PRICHARD
,
RHYS
(‘
Yr Hen Ficer
’;
1579?
-
1644
),
cleric and poet
;
b. in all probability at
Llandovery, Carms.
Rice
Rees
(q.v.)
, in the introduction to his edition of
Canwyll y Cymry
,
1841
, gave it as his opinion that ‘
there was reason to suppose that his father was a considerable
land owner
in that neighbourhood, and that his name was
Dafydd ap Richard ap Dafydd ap Rhys ap Dafydd
,’ but this must not be accepted as a fact.
Anthony
Wood
had made the suggestion that the vicar had received his
early education ‘in those parts,’ a phrase which
Rice
Rees
thought ‘was sufficiently wide to cover the whole of
South Wales
,’ but the phrase probably means nothing more than ‘in the neighbourhood.’
Rice
Rees
went on to suggest that the
vicar
went to the
Brecon (Christ College)
school but, in doing so, overlooked the fact that
Carmarthen grammar school
had been founded by
queen
Elizabeth
in
1576
, three years before the
vicar
was born. It is true that
Llandovery
is nearer
Brecon
than
Carmarthen
, but in those days the journey from
Llandovery
to
Carmarthen
was the easier of the two. It is accordingly more than likely that the
vicar
received his early education at
Carmarthen
. He went to
Jesus College
,
Oxford
, when he was about 18 years of age. He was ordained
priest
in
Wittham
or
Wytham
,
Essex
,
26 April 1602
, graduated
B.A.
the following June, and on
6 Aug.
the same year was presented by
Anthony
Rudd
,
bishop of S. Davids
from
1594 to 1614
, with the living of
Llandovery
, which was in the parish of
Llandingad
and had a chapel of ease at
Llanfair-ar-y-bryn
. The
king
, on
19 Nov. 1613
, appointed him
rector
of
Llanedy
in the
diocese of S. Davids
and he was allowed to hold both appointments by permission of the
archbishop
,
28 Oct. 1613
, confirmed under the great seal on the 29th of the same month. This, in turn, led to his being appointed
chaplain
to
Robert
,
earl of Essex
. On
17 May 1614
the
archbishop
appointed him
prebendary
of
Christ College
,
Brecon
; he was compelled by
Laud
to take his
M.A.
degree and, on the resignation of
Richard
Baylie
,
B.D.
, of
S. John's College
,
14 Sept. 1626
, was made
chancellor
of
S. Davids
, and later
canon
, the living of
Llawhaden
being attached to the post. He d.
about Dec. 1644
, and was buried in the cathedral churchyard.
The work of
vicar
Prichard
was published by
Stephen
Hughes
(q.v.)
— the first part in
1659
, and the second part either at the
end of 1659 or in 1660
. In
1672
Stephen
Hughes
issued another edition which had as a supplement ‘
The Fourth Part of the Work of Mr. Rees Prichard, Vicar of Llanymddyfri in the County of Carmarthen
,’ and in
1681
he published a complete edition:
Canwyll y Cymry: sef, Gwaith Mr. Rees Prichard, gynt Ficer Llanymddyfri, A brintiwyd or blaen yn bedair rhan wedi ei cyssylltu yn un Llyfr
.
Bibliography:
-
Wood
,
Athenae Oxonienses
, 1813–20. Sometimes
cited in the first (1691-2) edn
(1st ed. 1691 and 2nd ed. 1721);
-
Y Cymmrodor
, xiii, Sir John Ballinger's article on the bibliography of Vicar Prichard's poems;
-
Y Seren Foreu, neu Ganwyll y Cymry sef
gwaith prydyddol
, Llandovery, 1841
,
gan y Diweddar Barch. Rice Rees, B.D.
,
1841
;
-
D. Gwenallt Jones
,
Y Ficer Prichard a ’Canwyll y Cymry’
,
Caernarfon, 1946
.
Author:
David Gwenallt Jones, M.A., (1899-1968), Aberystwyth
