Cylchgronau Cymru

Fawr. Some time between 1553 and 1555 he was com- plainant in a Chancery Suit brought by him against a certain Robert Vaughan and others with regard to the tithes of Llanfaglan. In this suit he is described as 'John Gwyneth, parson or provost of Cenokvaure and vicar- resident of Luton, Co. Bedford.'2 In 1556-8 he was again complainant in a suit in the same court for the recovery of the rent of the church or chapel of Glangelyn,' parcel of the rectory of Clynnog Fawr.3 In the Dictionary of National Biography it is stated that Gwynneth probably died before the end of Queen Mary's reign, but there is on record a suit which he brought before the Court of Star Chamber in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.4 This suit was for the recovery of the possess- ions and appurtenances of the late Dr. Glyn at Clynnog Fawr, in Llanwnda and Llanfaglan. John Gwynneth's works, of which a list is appended, were intended mainly to refute the doctrines contained in the works of John Frith, the famous Protestant martyr, and friend and ally of Tyndale. Frith was martyred in 1533, and therefore already dead before Gwynneth began to write, but his writings evidently continued to be widely circulated and read. Too little is known of Gwynneth to assess either his character as a man or his conviction in matters of doctrine. Frith, however, is generally acknow- ledged to have been a man of marked ability, great learn- ing, and sincere piety. Although it has to be remembered that Gwynneth was possibly writing out of dutiful grati- tude to his Catholic patron of Oxford days-and there were many on both sides writing from mercenary motives -his works have a certain academic interest and provide good examples of Catholic dialectic, especially those An Inventory of the Early Chancery Proceedings concerning Wales, by E. A. Lewis (1937), p. 21. Ibid., p. 22. A Catalogue of Star Chamber Proceedings relating to Wales, by I. ab Owen Edwards (1929), p. 31.