YOUNG
,
GRUFFYDD
(
c.
1370
-
c.
1435
),
cleric, and supporter of Owain Glyndŵr
.
Of illegitimate birth, he appears to have won the favour of
Anne
of Bohemia
,
queen
of
Richard
II
(
Cal. Pap. Letters
, iv, 445; v, 239), and
between 1391 and 1403
held numerous benefices in the dioceses of
Bangor
and
S. Davids
—
Llanynys
,
Llanbadarn-fawr
, prebends of
Garthbrengy
,
Boughrood
,
Lampeter
,
Bangor
(
Cal. Pat. R.
,
1388-92
, 355; ibid.,
1391-6
, 16; (
Cal. Pap. Letters
, v, 239, 412, 521),
vicar-general
of
S. Davids
(
Regg. St. Davids
, 18-22) and
archdeacon
of
Merioneth
(
Willis
,
Bangor
, 140). About
1403
, he allied himself with
Owain Glyndŵr
, became his
chancellor
, and was
in
Paris
in
1404
with
John
Trevor
(q.v.)
negotiating a treaty of alliance
with
Charles
VI
. He was probably responsible for the ‘
Pennal policy
,’ whereby
Glyndŵr
agreed to transfer the allegiance of the
Welsh church
from
Rome
to
Benedict
XIII
of
Avignon
(
Lloyd
,
Owen Glendower
, 121-2), and in
Feb. 1407
was provided to the
bishopric
of
Bangor
, possibly as the result of intrigues on his part against
bishop
Lewis
Byford
. In
April 1407
he was translated to
S. Davids
, designed by the ‘
Pennal policy
’ as the metropolitan see of
Wales
. By
1408
the power of
Glyndŵr
was on the wane, and although
Young
remained in touch with him to the end, he abandoned the Avignonese policy when the
Council of Constance
brought the schism to an end with the election of
pope
Martin
V
in
1417
. Appointed
bishop
of
Ross
by
Martin
in
1418
, he was never effectively in control of the diocese and in
1423
he was translated to the
bishopric
of
Hippo
‘
in partibus infidelium
,’ being allowed to hold ‘in commendam’ benefices in the provinces of
Reims
and
Tours
. He was still calling himself
bishop
of
Ross
in
1430
and was alive in
1432
.
Bibliography:
-
J. R. Gabriel
, ‘Wales and the Avignonese Papacy, (
Archaeologia Cambrensis
,
1923
);
-
J. E. Lloyd
,
Owen Glendower / Owen Glyn Dwr
,
1931
, passim;
-
T. Matthews
,
Welsh Records in Paris
, Carmarthen,
1910
, 123-6.
Author:
Professor Glyn Roberts, M.A., (1904-1962), Bangor
