Bishop William Morgan's Bible

  Bishop William Morgan's Bible

Photo © Martin Crampin, Imaging the Bible in Wales

larger image

about 1988
Kneeler commemorating the anniversary of William Morgan's Bible.

technique: embroidery


Church of St David, Llanarth, Ceredigion
communion rail

The printing of the Bible in the Welsh language in 1588 was a landmark both in the progress of the Protestant Reformation in Wales, and in the history and development of the language itself. William Morgan (c.1545-1604), then rector of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, and subsequently Bishop of Llandaff and St Asaph, was a considerable Hebrew and Greek scholar. Glanmor Williams said that 'though the language of his Bible was somewhat pedantic, he incorporated with the vigour and purity of the medieval classics a new flexibility and wider range of expression. His work marks the real beginnings of the literature and Protestantism of modern Wales'. In 1988 there were widespread celebrations and commemorations throughout Wales of the 400th anniversary of the translation, and the working of this kneeler was part of that. The design incorporates the candle, a reference both to the light of the gospel and to Christ as the light of the world, but possibly also to that other product of the Protestant Reformation in Wales, the 'Canwyll y Cymry' of Rhys Prichard (c.1579-1644) published posthumously from 1659 onwards.




 

This artwork is indexed under the following main subject(s):
for other works containing these subjects please click on the links.


Click here for other artworks at this site


  Bishop William Morgan's Bible

Photo © Martin Crampin, Imaging the Bible in Wales


Arts & Humanities Research Council - project sponsorsNational Library of Wales - project partnerUniversity of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies - project partnerUniversity of Wales Trinity Saint David - project organiser

This database and its contents are copyright © 2008-2024 by University of Wales Trinity Saint David, unless otherwise noted. Copyright information

Database, software and website development by Technoleg Taliesin Cyf. © 2008-2024