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'William Salesbury: A Rare Scholar '
- James Pierce
 
Welsh Author and ex Teacher James Pierce has approached the Petersfield Welsh Society
to introduce his new historic book to our members as they may be interested in it!
 
William Salesbury was Deputy Attorney General for Wales from 1532. His abiding passion was language and he succeeded in steering the first Welsh dictionary and the first translation of the New Testament into Welsh through the political perils of the reigns of four Tudor monarchs.

He introduced his country to the printed word, to Renaissance and Humanist learning, and his lifetime’s work was arguably responsible for saving the Welsh language from extinction.

Salesbury was a determined and politically astute man, yet his posthumous reputation has been blighted by academic controversy.

This book seeks to illustrate his major contribution to language and linguistics and to re-instate him as one of Wales’ most influential scholars.
 
 
Crynodeb, “A Rare Scholar”

Cafodd William Salesbury ei eni tua 1507 yn Llansannan, Sir Ddinbych. Aeth e i Brifysgol Rhydychen cyn astudio’r gyfraith yn Llundain.

Yn 1532, penodwyd Salesbury Dirprwy Dwrnai Gwladol i Gymru.

Mae’r llyfr yn dilyn bywyd Salesbury, ei ymdrechion a’i orchestion. Ysgolhaig dyneiddiol ac ieithydd aruthrol oedd e ac yn 1544, darbwyllodd e Harri’r Wythfed i ganiatáu argraffu llyfrau yn yr iaith Gymraeg. Drwy wneud hyn, cafodd e wared ar gymal yn Ddeddf Uno (1536) a ddywedodd bod rhaid i’r iaith chael ei dileu (“extirp’d”).

Ymddangosodd “A Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe” (llyfr cyntaf Salesbury) yn 1547. Roedd rhagor o lyfrau yn ystod teyrnasiad Edward VI, yn cynnwys propaganda i Esgob Nicholas Ridley a dechreuodd Salebury ymgyrch i gael cyfieithiad o’r Beibl i’r Gymraeg. Yn 1551, er y perygl iddo, cyhoeddodd e gyfieithiad answyddogol o’r Llyfr Gweddi.

Yn ystod teyrnasiad Mary, dychwelodd Salesbury i ddiogelwch gogledd Cymru. (Bu farw llawer o’i ffrindiau, yn cynnwys Ridley, yn fflamau Llundain a Rhydychen.)

Gydag Elizabeth ar yr orsedd, ail-ddechreuodd ei ymgyrch ac yn 1563 pasiodd y Senedd ddeddf i gyfieithu’r Beibl a’r Llyfr Gweddi i’r Gymraeg.

Yn 1567, cyhoeddwyd Llyfr Gweddi Salesbury (yn cynnwys y Salmau) a’r Testament Newydd ond methodd e gwblhau ei gyfieithiad o’r Hen Destament. Pedair mlynedd ar ôl marwolaeth Salesbury, cyhoeddwyd Beibl William Morgan (1588).

Roedd gorchest Morgan yn bosibl o achos gwaith arloesol Salesbury ym meysydd argraffu, ysgolheictod, cyfieithu a deddfu.

Am ranfwyaf yr ugeinfed ganrif roedd Salesbury heb enw da ond nawr mae llawer o academwyr a haneswyr yn ail-asesu ei bwysigrwydd a’i statws fel un o’r personau mwyaf arwyddocaol yn hanes Cymru.
 
Synopsis, “A Rare Scholar”

Born c.1507 in Llansannan, Denbighshire, William Salesbury was educated at Oxford before studying law in London.

In 1532, he was appointed Deputy Attorney General for Wales.

The book traces Salesbury’s life, struggles and achievements. A humanist scholar and a prodigious linguist, in 1544 he persuaded Henry VIII to license the printing of Welsh books. In so doing he reversed the clause of the 1536 Act of Union, which stated that the Welsh language was to be “extirp’d” (destroyed).

Salesbury’s “A Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe” appeared in 1547. More books followed during the reign of Edward VI, including two works of propaganda for Bishop Nicholas Ridley.

It was during Edward’s reign that Salesbury began his campaign for the translation of the Bible into Welsh. In 1551, at great personal risk, he published an unauthorised Welsh version of the Prayer Book.

During Mary’s reign he returned to the safety of north Wales. (Several of his colleagues in London perished in the flames.)

With Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, Salesbury resumed his campaigning and in 1563 Parliament passed an act for the translation of the Bible and Prayer Book into Welsh.

In 1567, Salesbury’s translations of the Prayer Book (including the Psalms) and the New Testament were printed. Despite his best efforts he was unable to complete the translation of the Old Testament, but four years after Salesbury’s death, William Morgan’s Welsh Bible (1588) was published.

Morgan’s achievement was made possible by Salesbury’s pioneering work in the fields of printing, scholarship, translation and legislation..

For much of the twentieth century Salesbury’s reputation was blighted, but he is now being rediscovered as one of the most significant figures in Welsh history.