Richard Gwyn
Richard Gwyn, also known by his anglicized name, Richard White, was a Welsh teacher at illegal and underground schools and a bard who wrote both Christian and satirical poetry in the Welsh language. A Roman Catholic during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, Gwyn was martyred by being hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason at Wrexham in 1584. He was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Since its creation in 1987, St. Richard Gwyn has been the Patron Saint of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wrexham. Along with fellow lay martyr St. Margaret Clitherow, Gwyn is the co-patron of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.
Early life
While little is known of Richard Gwyn's early life, it is known that he was born about 1537 in Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire, Wales and, reportedly, "descended of honest parentage, bearing the surname of Gwin."Only at the age of 20, "he did frame his mind to like of good letters", and accordingly matriculated at Oxford University, "where he made no great abode", and did not complete a degree. He then went to St John's College, Cambridge, "where he lived on the charity of the College", and its then Master, the Roman Catholic Dr. George Bullock. During his time at University, Gwyn's fellow students began calling him by the alias of "Richard White", "as being the English equivalent of his name". In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth I, Bullock was forced to resign the mastership in July 1559 and Gwyn was forced to leave the college.
After leaving the university, Gwyn found that, "need and poverty compelled him to become a teacher before he could perfectly lay the foundation to be a learner," and returned to his native district in Wales. Gwyn served successively as schoolmaster in the Wrexham area villages of Gresford, Yswyd, and Overton-on-Dee while continuing his studies of the liberal arts, theology, and history.
Gwyn married Catherine, a young woman from Overton-on-Dee. They had six children, three of whom survived him.
Despite repeated threats of both fines and imprisonment, Gwyn made every effort to avoid attending Anglican Sunday Services and taking the Oath of Supremacy. As a recusant in a small village, Gwyn's adherence to the old faith was common knowledge. Gwyn also made no effort to hide his opinions and openly exhorted his neighbours who had conformed to return to the Catholic Church.
At the time, Bishops of the Established Church were under considerable pressure from Queen Elizabeth I to arrest recusants, especially schoolmasters, who exercised great influence and Welsh bards, who, like Richard Gwyn, were acting as secret messengers on behalf of Roman Catholic priests and recusants within the Welsh nobility and commons. In this way, the Bards of Wales were highly important within the Welsh Catholic underground and were how news was spread about secret Masses and pilgrimages.
For these reasons, William Downham, a former Roman Catholic priest of the Augustinian Brothers of Penitence who had conformed to Anglicanism and been appointed by the Queen as Bishop of Chester, and his officers, "began to molest", Gwyn, "for refusing to receive at their communion table". The Bishop and local statesman Roger Puleston put considerable pressure upon Gwyn, who reluctantly agreed, "greatly against his stomach", to receive Communion at Anglican services the following Sunday. The next Sunday, however, as Gwyn left St. Mary the Virgin Church in Overton-on-Dee following the Anglican service there, he was assaulted and pecked all the way back to his home by a flock of crows and kites. Soon after, Gwyn became so gravely ill that his life was despaired of. Gwyn promised God that if his life were spared, he would return to the Catholic Faith and never again violate his conscience by attending services at a Protestant church. Soon after, seminary priests, including Robert Gwin, began arriving in North Wales from Catholic Europe. Gwyn made his Confession and returned to the religion of his childhood.
Incensed by Gwyn's return to Catholicism, Bishop Downham and the Protestants of Overton made Gwyn's life so unbearable that the schoolmaster and his family fled the Diocese of Chester on foot. After crossing the River Dee and finding a new home in Erbistock, Gwyn set up the Welsh equivalent to an Irish hedge school inside a deserted barn, where he secretly taught the children of local Catholic families. In time, however, Gwyn was forced to flee from Erbistock as well to avoid arrest.
On a Wednesday night early in 1579, Richard Gwyn was arrested by the Vicar of Wrexham, Hugh Soulley a former Roman Catholic priest who had conformed to Anglicanism and married, during a visit to the city's Cattle Market. Gwyn was confined to Wrexham Jail, where he was offered his liberty if he would conform to the Established Church. When he refused, Gwyn was told that he would appear before the magistrates the following day. That very night, Gwyn escaped and remained a fugitive for a year and a half.
Imprisonment
Recapture
After eighteen months on the run, Gwyn was on the way one afternoon in July 1580 into Wrexham in order to deliver a secret message that a priest was urgently needed. During his journey, Gwyn was recognized on the public highway by David Edwards, a wealthy Puritan cloth merchant. Even though English law at the time did not permit what is now called a citizen's arrest, Edwards ordered Gwyn to stop. When the latter refused, Edwards drew his dagger and attacked Gwyn, who defended himself with his staff and struck the Puritan such a severe blow on the head that Edwards was thrown to the ground. Gwyn thought at first that he had killed Edwards and stood in silent horror until the Puritan began showing signs of life. Gwyn then took to his heels. Edwards followed in pursuit and cried, "Stop thief! Stop thief!" The Puritan's servants were cutting hay nearby and, hearing their master's cries, they surrounded Gwyn and seized him.David Edwards brought Gwyn into his own house, and kept him there in heavy bolts and chains while the magistrates were summoned. After the magistrates took charge of him, Gwyn was taken to Wrexham prison and lodged in an underground dungeon known as "The Black Chamber".
After laying on the cold ground in the Black Chamber for two days, Gwyn was brought before the Justice of the Peace, Robert Puleston, who ordered that Gwyn be sent to Ruthin Castle and, "very straitly guarded as being vehemently suspected of high treason." For this reason, Gwyn spent his first three months in Ruthin Castle wearing, "strong handbolts on his arms, and a huge pair of bolts on both heels, which were so placed that he could not lie on his side, but, whenever he would sleep, must needs lie on his back or his belly."
At the Michaelmas Assizes in 1580, Gwyn was offered his freedom if he would agree to attend Anglican services and to give up the names of the Catholic parents in Erbistock whose children he had taught. Gwyn refused and was returned to Ruthin Castle. By this time, however, Gwyn's jailer, "understanding that he had merely a prisoner for religion to deal with, remitted some part of his former rigour towards him."
Around Christmas 1580, all the prisoners at Ruthin Castle were transferred to Wrexham Jail, where the new jailer greeted Gwyn, "with a great pair of shackles, which was compelled to wear both night and day all the year following."
When brought before the next Assizes, Gwyn again refused to conform.
"Brawling in Church"
When the May Assizes were held at Wrexham in 1581, the Chief Justice of Chester, Sir George Bromley, ordered that Gwyn be "taken to church" by force. Gwyn was carried upon the shoulders of six men into St. Giles' Church in Wrexham. Gwyn was carried around the font and laid in heavy shackles before the pulpit to hear the sermon of an Anglican clergyman named Thomas Jones. However, Gwyn, "so stirred his legs that with the noise of his irons the preacher's voice could not be heard." Sir George Bromley ordered that, as punishment, Gwyn was to be placed in the stocks between 10:00am and 8:00pm and sermonized the whole time by Anglican ministers. One Anglican clergyman, who had a very large red nose, attempted to debate with Gwyn concerning the Keys of the Church, which the minister alleged were given just as much to him as to St. Peter the Apostle. "There is this difference", Gwyn replied, "namely, that whereas Peter received the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, the keys you received were obviously those of the beer cellar."At 8:00 pm, Gwyn was finally released from the stocks and limped back to his cell, followed the whole way by the jeering laughter of David Edwards, the Puritan cloth merchant who had arrested him.
At his next court appearance, Gwyn learned he had been indicted and would be tried for the additional charge of "brawling during divine service." However, as James Garm, the clerk of court, began to read the indictment before the jury, he found himself unable to continue doing so and handed it to someone else. When Sir George asked Garm what was the matter, the clerk replied, "I do not know what has happened to my eyes, but I cannot see." Bromley replied, "Speak softly lest the Papists make a miracle of that." Richard Gwyn was found guilty by the jury and fined one hundred marks.
In September 1581, Gwyn was moved to Denbigh Castle and was again brought before Sir George Bromley. Gwyn was fined £280 for refusing to attend Anglican Sunday Services under the penal statute setting the fine for that offence at £20 per month. This fine was in addition to Gwyn's previous fine of £140 for "brawling during divine service". Gwyn replied that he had some funds and could make some payment toward his fines. When Bromley asked what amount he could pay, Gwyn answered, "Six-pence". Outraged, Bromley ordered that Gwyn be returned to prison with extra irons.