WILLIAMS
,
GRIFFITH
(
1587?
-
1673
),
bishop and author
;
b. at
Treflan
, near
Caernarvon
. He was educated at a school at
Caernarvon
, at
Christ Church
,
Oxford
,
1604-6
(to which he was admitted
15 June 1604
, ‘at the age of 16’), and at
Jesus College
,
Cambridge
,
1606-8
(
B.A. Cantab.
1606
,
M.A.
1609
,
B.D.
1616
,
D.D.
1621
). He was ordained
priest
30 May 1607
, and became
rector
of
Foscott (Bucks)
,
1608-12
,
lecturer
at
S. Peter and S. Paul
,
London
, and
rector
of
S. Bennet Sherhog
,
1612-6
. At this time he aroused opposition by
preaching
against the
Puritans
. When he published his book,
The Resolutions of Pilate
, the
bishop of London
inhibited him from preaching but through the intervention of the
archbishop of Canterbury
he was appointed to the living of
Llanllechid, Caerns.
It was he who preached the funeral sermon at the burial of
Sir
Richard
Bulkeley
in
1621
, taking as his text Psalm cxiv, 5. In
July 1644
he
preached
at the funeral of
Katherine
, daughter of
William
Lewis
of
Llandygài
, when
archbishop
John
Williams
and the
bishop of Bangor
were present, and he is mentioned as one of the mourners at the burial of
archbishop
John
Williams
at
Llandygài
in
1650
. He was appointed
rector
of
Trefdraeth
in
1626
and
dean
of
Bangor
in
1634
. In
1635
he was summoned before the court of high commission for neglecting his wife, and he had to enter into a bond of £500 that he would treat her properly in future. In
1636
he was made
one of the king's chaplains
and in
1641
was appointed
bishop
of
Ossory
in
Ireland
. Shortly after his consecration the
Civil War
broke out and he fled from
Ireland
, staying for some time at
Llanllechid
and wandering about until the
Restoration
. During this time he visited
Ireland
on several occasions and, in
1647
, was appointed
rector
of
Rathfarnham
. In
1661
he resumed his bishopric and is said to have been the first to pray publicly in
Ireland
for
king
Charles
II
. He d.
29 March 1673
, and was buried in
Ossory
cathedral. He left to the poor property in
Llanllechid
,
Conway
, and
Llandygài
. He published
The Resolutions of Pilate
,
1616
;
Seven Goulden Candlesticks
,
1624
;
The True Church
,
1629
;
The Discovery of Mysteries or the Plots, etc.
,
1643
;
A Sermon preached before the House of Commons
,
1644
;
Jura Majestatis, the Rights of Kings
,
1644
;
The Great Anti-Christ Revealed
,
1660
;
Seven Treatises
,
1661
;
A True Relation of a Law Proceeding betwixt Griffith, Lord Bishop of Ossory and Sir G. Ayskue
,
1663
;
Persecution and Oppression of John Bale and Griffith Williams, bishops of Ossory
,
1664
;
Several Sermons on Solemn Occasions
,
1665
;
Four Treatises
,
1667
;
Vindiciae Regum, or the Grand Rebellion, that is a looking glass for Rebels.
Bibliography:
-
The Persecution and Oppression … of John
Bale, that was called to be Bishop of Ossory, by the sole
election … of that pious King, Edw. 6. and of Griffith
Williams, that was called after the same manner to the same
Bishoprick
, London, 1664
, London,
1664
, 3-13;
-
Sir John Wynn
,
The History of the Gwydir Family
,
1927
(
1927
ed.), ‘Memoirs,’ 75;
-
Ware
,
Irish Bishops
, ii, 420-7;
-
T. Richards
,
Cymru a'r Uchel Gomisiwn, 1633-1640
,
Liverpool, 1930
, 83-6, 102-3, 133, 135;
-
Leslie
,
Ossory Clergy and Parishes being an account
of the Clergy of the Church of Ireland in the diocese of
Ossory, from the earliest period … With a map of the
diocese and portraits of some post-disestablishment
bishops
, Enniskillen, 1933
, 17-9, 77, 104, 133, 135;
-
Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian
Society and Field Club
,
1948
, 31.
Author:
Griffith Thomas Roberts, M.A., Llanrug
