| William Salesbury |
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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 . 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 {Link without Title} 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 maried wyues at that tyme.'' This book, printed by : ''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 the Bishop of St. David's, Richard Davies (1501?-1581), and Thomas Huet, 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''). SEE ALSO REFERENCES |
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