The surname
Owen
became fixed in this old
Caernarvonshire
stock (descended from
Collwyn ap Tangno
) with the children of
OWEN AP
and his wife
Margaret
, daughter of
Foulk
Salusbury
of
Llanrwst
(and subsequently wife of
Gruffydd
Madryn
), several of whom were closely associated with the
Catholic revival
following the excommunication of
Elizabeth
(
1570
).
THOMAS
OWEN
, the eldest son, was
sheriff of Caernarvonshire
in
1568-9
,
but began absenting himself from
Anglican
worship
c.
1573
, and in
1576
was believed to be taking steps towards transferring the estate to his younger brother
Foulk
and joining his other brothers (below) abroad. Out of the suspicions thus aroused grew a series of official enquiries and lawsuits (
1578
ff.) in which he was charged with recusancy, harbouring
seminary priests
, treasonable correspondence with his brother
Hugh
in
Brussels
and misappropriation in the latter's service of the
Aberdaron
tithes. After a term of imprisonment
Owen
seems to have conformed, and was probably dead
by 1595
, leaving the estate to his elder son
OWEN
OWEN
(d. before
1618
), who was squeezed out of it (
c.
1614
) by the pressure of creditors, e.g.
Sir
Thomas
Myddelton
(
1550
-
1631
) (q.v.)
and
Sir
William
Maurice
(q.v.)
.
Thomas
Owen
's third son was
JOHN
OWEN
(d.
1622
) (q.v.)
, the
epigrammatist
.
HUGH
OWEN
(
1538
-
1618
),
Roman Catholic conspirator
,
was a younger son of
Owen ap
Gruffydd
, educated at
Lincoln's Inn
(
21 April 1556
), and employed in the household of
Henry
Fitzalan
,
12th earl of Arundel
and
lord of Oswestry
, whom he attended (in company with
Humphrey
Llwyd
(q.v.)
) to the
Diet of Augsburg
(
1566
) and by whom he was drawn into plots on behalf of
Mary
,
Queen of Scots
. Implication in the
Ridolfi Plot
drove him into hiding, first with the
Lloyd
s
of
Llwyn-y-maen
and other recusant families round
Oswestry
, then
via
Spain
to
Brussels
(
1572
), where, as a
Spanish pensioner
, he advised the
Netherlands
government on
English
affairs for
c.
forty years, making frequent journeys to
Italy
,
Spain
, and
France
,
maintaining a succession of secret agents
in
England
, and using
Welshmen
in the
English regiments
in
Flanders
to further
Spanish military
plans there. He was denounced as instigator of many of the plots against
Elizabeth
and had certainly some share in
Gunpowder Plot
. Although not himself (as sometimes stated) a
Jesuit
, he was from
1587
an uncompromising champion of the
Jesuit
and
Hispanophile
wing of the
Roman Catholics
, as against
Welsh
fellow-exiles like
Thomas
Morgan
(
1543
-
1605
) (q.v.)
or
Owen
Lewis
(q.v.)
,
bishop of Cassano
, who favoured a
Scottish
succession to the
English
throne. Demands from
1574
by the
English government
for his extradition were consistently repulsed till
1610-11
, when he retired to the
English College
at
Rome
, dying there on
30 May 1618
. He kept in touch with
Welsh
affairs and frequently used
Welsh
in his secret correspondence. Dying a bachelor, he disinherited his
Protestant
nephew,
John
Owen
the
epigrammatist
, in favour of his
Catholic
nephew
Charles
Gwynne
(see under
Bodvel
), who commemorated him in the mural inscription at the
English College
quoted in
Arch. Camb.
,
1853
, 130-1.
ROBERT
OWEN
1570), (
fl.
1570
),
canon of Mantes
,
was the 3rd son of
Owen ap Gruffydd
, and was probably also brought up in the household of the
earl of Arundel
, who presented him (
1560
) to the living of
West Felton
,
Salop
, which he forfeited or resigned in
1570
, obtaining a licence to study abroad. He read law at
Douai
(
1570-3
), went on to
Rome
, and after at least one visit home settled in
France
with recommendations from the papal nuncio (
1576
). He lived in
Paris
in close touch with the
British Catholic exiles
there and elsewhere and in regular correspondence (in
English
and
Welsh
) with his brother
Hugh
. Early in the next century he became
canon
of
Mantes
(or possibly
Le Mans
). In
Dec. 1602
, he was unofficially sent by the
French government
to
Brussels
to discuss with
Hugh
and the
Hispanophiles
James
VI
's claims to the
English throne
. He is last heard of (
7 Feb. 1604
) bitterly inveighing against the results of the
Stuart
succession. A still younger brother,
JOHN
OWEN
, also studied at
Douai
.
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor
