William Morgan

William Morgan (c. 1545 – 10 September 1604) was a Welsh Bishop of Llandaff and of St Asaph, and the translator of Y Beibl cyssegr-lan, the first version of the whole Bible into Welsh, from Greek and Hebrew.

Life

Morgan was born in 1545 at Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant, in the parish of Penmachno, near Betws-y-Coed, north Wales (there is some doubt about the exact year of his birth; his memorial in Cambridge, for example, gives 1541). As his father was a tenant of the Gwydir estate, he was probably educated at Gwydir Castle, near Llanrwst, along with the children of the Wynn family. Morgan then attended St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied a range of subjects including philosophy, mathematics and Greek. He graduated BA in 1568 and MA in 1571, before seven years of Biblical studies, including a study of the Bible in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and the works of the Church Fathers and contemporary Protestant theologians. He graduated BD in 1578 and DD in 1583. At Cambridge he was a contemporary of the Welsh clergyman and poet Edmwnd Prys who had been born only 12 miles from Morgan's birthplace; Prys later assisted Morgan with his translation of the Bible.

In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Morgan was a clergyman of the Church of England, having been ordained in 1568 by the Bishop of Ely. His first clerical benefice was the parish of Llanbadarn Fawr, which he gained in 1572; in 1575 he moved to Welshpool, and then became vicar of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in 1578. It was while there he made his Bible translation. In 1579 he became rector of Llanfyllin, which he held concurrently with being vicar of nearby Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.