Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/44

 He died shortly after his return in 1584. Morgan married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Andrew Judde, alderman of London; and, having no issue by her, he was succeeded to a very much encumbered estate by his brother Henry. Another brother, Robert Morgan, is said to have come to Ireland in the reign of Charles I, and to have been the founder of the family of Morgan of Cottelstown in co. Sligo.  MORGAN, WILLIAM (1540?–1604), bishop of St. Asaph, son of John ap Morgan ap Llywelyn and Lowri, daughter of William ap John ap Madog, was born at Ty Mawr, Gwibernant, in the parish of Penmachno, Carnarvonshire, about 1540. His father, a copyhold tenant upon the great estate of Gwydir, was in no position to give his son a liberal education. But, according to a local tradition, William was carefully taught at home by a monk, who, on the dissolution of the monasteries, had found a secret asylum among his relatives at Ty Mawr. The lad's proficiency soon attracted the attention of John (or Maurice?) Wynn of Gwydir, who took him under his patronage and had him taught at his own house, though no doubt on a menial footing. In 1565 he entered St. John's College, Cambridge, matriculating in the university as a sub-sizar on 26 Feb., and becoming a full sizar on 9 June. Cambridge, and in particular St. John's College, were at this time active protestant centres, and Morgan rapidly lost the Romanist sympathies which he probably brought with him from Wales. Hebrew was taught by Emanuel Tremellius [q. v.], and afterwards by Anthony Rodolph Chevallier [q. v.], and he thus laid the foundations of his proficiency in that language. He graduated B. A. in 1568, M.A. in 1571, B.D. in 1 578, and D.D. in 1583. On 8 Aug. 1575 he became vicar of Welshpool, and in 1578 he was appointed one of the university preachers. On 1 Oct. of that year he was promoted to the vicarage of Llanrhaiadr Mochnant, Denbighshire, to which appears to have been added in 1579 the rectory of Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire. The two parishes are not far apart, and Morgan probably found no difficulty in supervising Llanfyllin while residing at Llanrhaiadr. In a document styled ' A Discoverie of the present Estate of the Byshoppricke of St. Asaphe,' and dated 24 Feb. 1587, he is particularly mentioned as one of the three 'preachers ' in the diocese who kept 'ordinary residence and hospitality' upon their livings.

It was at Llanrhaiadr that Morgan carried out the great enterprise of his life, the translation of the Bible into Welsh. Parliament had in 1563 enacted that the bishops of Hereford, St. David's, Bangor, St. Asaph, and Llandaff should provide for the issue within three years of a Welsh version of the scriptures, but this had only resulted in the appearance of William Salesbury's translation of the New Testament in 1567. Morgan appears to have taken up spontaneously the idea of completing Salesbury's work; after some years' labour he resolved upon publishing the Pentateuch as an experiment. But influential neighbours who had private grudges against him interposed, and endeavoured to persuade the authorities that Morgan's character was not such as to fit him for his self-sought position as translator, and he was accordingly summoned before Archbishop Whitgift to justify his pretensions. It is probable that the aspersions upon him had reference to the position of his wife, whom he is said to have married secretly before he went up to Cambridge. Sir John Wynn of Gwydir afterwards took credit to himself for having cleared the good name of the two by the certificates he and his friends sent up to London. The effect of the attack undoubtedly was not only to vindicate Morgan's character, but also to convince Whitgift of his talents as a translator, and to interest the archbishop in the work. It was resolved that the whole of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha should appear, and that Morgan should also revise Salesbury's translation of the New Testament. Towards the end of 1587 the printing of the book began at London; it went on for a year, during which Morgan was enabled to exercise a close supervision over the work through the hospitality of Gabriel Goodman [q. v.], dean of Westminster. It appeared in 1588, after the defeat of the Armada (to which reference is made in the preface), and before 20 Nov., the date inscribed in the copy presented by Morgan to the Westminster Abbey Library. The Latin dedication to Queen Elizabeth tells something of the history of the translation, and powerfully states the case for it against those advisers of the crown who disapproved of any official countenance being given to the Welsh language. Among 