William Salesbury
Encyclopedia
William Salesbury also Salusbury (c. 1520 - c. 1584) was the leading Welsh
scholar of the Renaissance
and the principal translator of the 1567 Welsh
New Testament
.
Salesbury was born in about 1520 in the parish of Llansannan
, Conwy
. He was educated at Oxford University, where he studied the Hebrew
, Greek
and Latin
languages, and also became familiar with the (banned) writings of Martin Luther
and William Tyndale
as well as the technology of printing
.
In 1547, Salesbury produced an English-Welsh dictionary
called A dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe, and in 1550 his A briefe and a playne introduction, teachyng how to pronounce the letters in the British tong (now commenly called Walsh)... was printed by Robert Crowley
. A revised edition was printed "by Henry Denham
for Humfrey Toy, dwellyng at the sygne of the Helmet in Paules church yarde, The. xvij. of May. 1567." Both of these books have become important sources for information about the spoken English
of the sixteenth century.
Salesbury also published books in Welsh
at the same time. In 1547 he published a collection of Welsh proverbs made by Gruffudd Hiraethog (d. 1564), Oll synnwyr pen Kembero ygyd.
In 1550, he published Ban wedy i dynny air yngair alla o ben gyfreith Howel da, bay ladell bren hin kymbry, ynghylch ch wechant mlynedi aeth heibia wrth yr h wn ban y gellir deall bot yr offeiriait y pryd hynny yn priodi gwragedryn dichwith aryn kyttal ac wynt in gyfreith lawn. A certaine case extracte[d] out of the auncient law of Hoel da, kyng of Wales in the yere of oure Lorde, nyne hundred and fourtene passed: whereby it maye gathered that priestes had lawfully married wyues at that tyme. This book, printed by Robert Crowley
, was in Welsh and English; as the title indicates, it was an attempt to justify Protestant doctrine in favour of a clerical marriage
to the Welsh and English by establishing precedent for it in the "auncient law" of a Welsh king. (It was no doubt significant that the present royal family, the Tudors, had Welsh origins.) Also in 1550, a polemical text appeared under Crowley's imprint stating that it was "compiled" by Salesbury: The baterie of the Popes Botereulx, commonly called the high altare. A third Salesbury book with Crowley's imprint in 1551 is a translation of the epistle and gospel readings from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer
: Kynniuer llith a ban or yscrythur lan ac a d’arlleir yr eccleis pryd commun, y sulieu a’r gwilieu trwy’r vlwyd’yn: o Cambereiciat.
As a convinced Protestant, Salesbury was obliged to spend most of the reign of Mary I
, 1553–1558, in hiding. As a consequence his writing and publishing came to a stop.
The belief of Erasmus and Luther
that the Bible
should be available to all in their native language was firmly advocated by Salesbury. With the succession of Elizabeth I
, Salesbury went to work on this project. In 1563, he helped instigate an act of parliament under which the translation of the Bible became a priority for the bishops of Wales
and Hereford
. Quite possibly a confederate in this project, Robert Crowley, Salesbury's former printer, was at this time a Canon
of Hereford, having been instituted to the stall or prebend of "Pratum majus" in the cathedral of Hereford c. 1560-63.
Salesbury worked with Richard Davies (Bishop of St. David's) and Thomas Huet
(Precentor
of St David's) to prepare a translation of the New Testament
from the original Greek into Welsh. This was published on 7 October 1567. He also translated the English
Book of Common Prayer
into Welsh, which was also published in 1567 as Y Llyfr Gweddi Gyffredin), both were published by Humphrey Toy
.
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
scholar of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and the principal translator of the 1567 Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
.
Salesbury was born in about 1520 in the parish of Llansannan
Llansannan
Llansannan is a rural village in Conwy County Borough, Wales.thumb|500px|Llansannan- Location :It lies on the bank of the River Aled and is about 8 miles to the south of Abergele and to the west of Denbigh...
, Conwy
Conwy (county borough)
Conwy County Borough is a unitary authority area in North Wales.-Geography:It contains the major settlements of Llandudno, Llandudno Junction, Llanrwst, Betws-y-Coed, Conwy, Colwyn Bay, Abergele, Penmaenmawr and Llanfairfechan, and has a total population of about 110,000.The River Conwy, after...
. He was educated at Oxford University, where he studied the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
languages, and also became familiar with the (banned) writings of Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
and William Tyndale
William Tyndale
William Tyndale was an English scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther...
as well as the technology of printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
.
In 1547, Salesbury produced an English-Welsh dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
called A dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe, and in 1550 his A briefe and a playne introduction, teachyng how to pronounce the letters in the British tong (now commenly called Walsh)... was printed by Robert Crowley
Robert Crowley (printer)
Robert Crowley also Robertus Croleus, Roberto Croleo, Robart Crowleye, Robarte Crole, and Crule , was a stationer, poet, polemicist and Protestant clergyman who was among the Marian exiles at Frankfurt...
. A revised edition was printed "by Henry Denham
Henry Denham
Henry Denham was one of the outstanding English printers of the sixteenth century.He was apprenticed to Richard Tottel and took up the freedom of the Stationers' Company on August 30, 1560. In 1564 he set up his own printing house in White Cross Street, Cripplegate, but in the following year he...
for Humfrey Toy, dwellyng at the sygne of the Helmet in Paules church yarde, The. xvij. of May. 1567." Both of these books have become important sources for information about the spoken English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
of the sixteenth century.
Salesbury also published books in Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
at the same time. In 1547 he published a collection of Welsh proverbs made by Gruffudd Hiraethog (d. 1564), Oll synnwyr pen Kembero ygyd.
In 1550, he published Ban wedy i dynny air yngair alla o ben gyfreith Howel da, bay ladell bren hin kymbry, ynghylch ch wechant mlynedi aeth heibia wrth yr h wn ban y gellir deall bot yr offeiriait y pryd hynny yn priodi gwragedryn dichwith aryn kyttal ac wynt in gyfreith lawn. A certaine case extracte[d] out of the auncient law of Hoel da, kyng of Wales in the yere of oure Lorde, nyne hundred and fourtene passed: whereby it maye gathered that priestes had lawfully married wyues at that tyme. This book, printed by Robert Crowley
Robert Crowley (printer)
Robert Crowley also Robertus Croleus, Roberto Croleo, Robart Crowleye, Robarte Crole, and Crule , was a stationer, poet, polemicist and Protestant clergyman who was among the Marian exiles at Frankfurt...
, was in Welsh and English; as the title indicates, it was an attempt to justify Protestant doctrine in favour of a clerical marriage
Clerical marriage
Clerical marriage is the practice of allowing clergy to marry. Churches such as the Eastern Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox exclude this practice for their priests, while accepting already married men for ordination to priesthood...
to the Welsh and English by establishing precedent for it in the "auncient law" of a Welsh king. (It was no doubt significant that the present royal family, the Tudors, had Welsh origins.) Also in 1550, a polemical text appeared under Crowley's imprint stating that it was "compiled" by Salesbury: The baterie of the Popes Botereulx, commonly called the high altare. A third Salesbury book with Crowley's imprint in 1551 is a translation of the epistle and gospel readings from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
: Kynniuer llith a ban or yscrythur lan ac a d’arlleir yr eccleis pryd commun, y sulieu a’r gwilieu trwy’r vlwyd’yn: o Cambereiciat.
As a convinced Protestant, Salesbury was obliged to spend most of the reign of Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, 1553–1558, in hiding. As a consequence his writing and publishing came to a stop.
The belief of Erasmus and Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
that the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
should be available to all in their native language was firmly advocated by Salesbury. With the succession of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, Salesbury went to work on this project. In 1563, he helped instigate an act of parliament under which the translation of the Bible became a priority for the bishops of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
. Quite possibly a confederate in this project, Robert Crowley, Salesbury's former printer, was at this time a Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Hereford, having been instituted to the stall or prebend of "Pratum majus" in the cathedral of Hereford c. 1560-63.
Salesbury worked with Richard Davies (Bishop of St. David's) and Thomas Huet
Thomas Huet
Rev. Thomas Huet was a Welsh clergyman and translator of the Bible.-Life:Huet, who was probably from Brecknockshire, Wales originally, is recorded as being a member of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1544. He was Master of the College of the Holy Trinity, Pontefract when it was dissolved...
(Precentor
Precentor
A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is "præcentor", from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" ....
of St David's) to prepare a translation of the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
from the original Greek into Welsh. This was published on 7 October 1567. He also translated the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
into Welsh, which was also published in 1567 as Y Llyfr Gweddi Gyffredin), both were published by Humphrey Toy
Humphrey Toy
Humphrey Toy was a British bookseller and publisher, and the son of bookseller Robert Toy. In 1567, he published the first translation of New Testament in Welsh from the original Greek, translated by his close friend William Salesbury...
.
Further reading
- Andrew Breeze, "William Salesbury," The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 281: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500–1660, Second Series, Detroit: Gale, 2003, pp. 260–273.
- R. Brinley Jones, "Geirfa Rhethreg 1552-1632," Ysgrifau Beirniadol, vol. 9, 1976, 118-146.
- Isaac Thomas, "William Salesbury and his Testament", Cardiff : University of Wales Press, 1967 / Isaac Thomas, "William Salesbury a'i Destament", Caerdydd : Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1967.
- W. Alun Mathias, "Llyfr Rhetoreg William Salesbury," Llen Cymru, vol. 1, 1951, pp. 259–268, and vol. 2, 1952, pp. 71–81.