OWEN
,
LEWIS
(
1572
-
1629?
),
anti-Romanist propagandist
;
b.
1572
in
Merionethshire
. There is no certainty about his family connexions and it is doubtful whether he was the eldest son of
Gruffydd
Owen
of
Tal-y-bont
,
Llanegryn
, 4th son of
‘
baron
’
Lewis
Owen
(q.v.)
of
Llwyn
,
Dolgelley
. He was admitted to
Christ Church
,
Oxford
,
14 Dec. 1590
, but left without graduating and went on a tour of the
Continent
. He is said to have been admitted to membership of the
Society of Jesus
but later became one of its most bitter enemies and was employed by the
English Government
as a
spy
. In
1626
he published
The Running Register, recording a True Relation of the English Colledges, Seminaries and Cloysters in all Forraine Parts, etc.
, which throws considerable light on the history of those colleges and on the
Welshmen
who attended them. He was also the
author
of
The Unmasking of all Popish Monks, etc.
,
1628
, dedicated to
Sir
John
Lloyd
of
Aberllefenni
and
Ceiswyn
, and
Speculum Jesuiticum
,
1629
.
W. Llewelyn
Williams
says that he d. in
1629
.
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
, and the authorities quoted therein;
-
W. Llewelyn Williams
in
The Transactions of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion
,
1901-2
, 90, 121-3, and
The Making of Modern Wales
, Cardiff,
1913
, 240-1;
-
Geiriadur Bywgraffyddol o Enwogion
Cymru
, ii, 352.
Author:
Emyr Gwynne Jones, M.A., (1911-72), Bangor
