Morys
Clynnog (MAURICE CLENOCKE) c. 1525 - 1581
In 1558, he was appointed Bishop of Bangor, but when Catholicism was banned following
the death of Queen Mary, he escaped to Rome. He was
head of the English College there; the purpose of the
college was to prepare priests to return to Britain
to restore the Catholic Faith. In 1575 he recommended
the Pope to send 6,000 men to dethrone Queen Elizabeth
1st. It has been discovered recently that he conspired
with others to land an expedition on the coast of Arfon
but the raid was a failure.
Quoted from the Welsh Biography (Bywgraffiadur
Cymreig) to 1940
CLYNNOG , MORYS (or MAURICE CLENOCKE ) ( c. 1525 - 1581 ), Roman Catholic theologian
; his birthplace, in all probability, was Clynnog-fawr
in Caernarvonshire. He went up to Christ Church , Oxford,
where he graduated B.C.L. in 1548. After being successively
chaplain to ( cardinal ) Reginald Pole, Rector of Orpington,
Kent, and Dean of Shoreham and Croydon, he was, in
1556, appointed rector of Corwen, by Goldwell, bishop
of S. Asaph.
On the death of William
Glyn (q.v.) in 1558, he was raised to the see of Bangor
but, before
he was consecrated, Queen Mary died and he went into
voluntary exile rather than conform with the new dispensation
under Elizabeth.
In 1561 he, Bishop Goldwell,
and Gruffydd Robert, archdeacon of Anglesey, arrived
in Rome. Goldwell
was appointed warden of the English Hospital in that
city, Gruffydd Robert became chaplain in 1564, and
Morys Clynnog ‘Camerarius’ in 1567. In 1577 he was
appointed warden.
The following year Owen
Lewis, Archdeacon of Hainault and later Bishop of Cassano,
succeeded in establishing the English College in Rome, and Morys Clynnog was elected
rector with a staff of three Jesuits to assist him
in teaching the English and Welsh students. Clynnog
was alleged to have shown favouritism to the Welsh,
and a riot occurred, but there is a suspicion that
this was instigated by the Jesuits who wished to gain
control of the college. At any rate, he was forced
to resign in 1579 after the English students, who had
threatened to leave the college if he did not do so,
had sent a petition to Cardinal Morone protesting against
his administration, and a deputation to the pope to
demand his removal.
Father Agazzari, a Jesuit,
was appointed in his place. In 1580 we hear of Morys
Clynnog
embarking at Rouen. It is believed that he was drowned
early in 1581 on his way to Spain.
In 1568 he published a
little book in the form of a catechism. It was called
Athravaeth Gristnogavl , had
an introduction by Gruffydd Robert , and was printed
at Milan.
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