Rowland Vaughan (poet)

Rowland Vaughan (c.1590 – 18 September 1667) was a Welsh poet, translator and jurist.^[1]

Vaughan was the owner of Caer Gai, more recently recognized as a Roman fort, in the parish of Llanuwchlyn, Merioneth, four miles to the west of Bala.His paternal family derived from the Vaughans of Llwydiarth and his mother Ellen, came from the Nanney or Nannau estate in the same county. Vaughan's wife was from Llanuwchlyn.

Vaughan studied in Oxford where his two sons, John and Edward, were to follow him. He served as sheriff for Merioneth for 1643.

Vaughan was a staunch royalist taking up the cause of Charles I and imprisoned for about a year following the defeat at Chester. About this time his farm was burnt by Parliamentary soldiery. Upon release he re-established his fortunes and engaged in literary exchanges with local poets. Vaughan's translations are of a generally high standard, of works largely Calvinist in content but within a royalist and Anglican context.

Vaughan's papers ultimately were taken to Brogyntyn (or Porkington), the Ormsby-Gore residence near Oswestry. Hence, subsequent to the foundation of the National Library of Wales, they may be consulted in the Brogyntyn Collection of the Department of Manuscripts at Aberystwyth.

Vaughan's land-holdings passed to several generations of his descendants but untimately merged with those of Syr Watkin Williams Wyn circa 1740

Works

• Yr Ymarfer o Dduwioldeb (1630)
• Eikon Basilike (c. 1650)
• Yr Arfer o Weddi yr Arglwydd (1658)
• Pregeth yn Erbyn Schism (1658)
• Prifannau Sanctaidd neu Lawlyfr o Weddiau (1658)
• Ymddiffyniad Rhag Pla o Schism (1658)
• Prifannau Crefydd Gristnogol (1658)
• Evchologia: neu Yr Athrawiaeth i arferol weddio (1660)
• Carolau a Dyriau Duwiol (1729)

Bibliography

• Y Bywgraffiadur Gymreig hyd 1940, London, 1953
• John Ballinger: Lewis Bailey, Yr Ymarfer o Dduwioldeb gan Lewis Bailey Wedi ei gyfieithu i'r Gymreig gan Rowland Vaughan (introduction in English), Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1930

References