- Gruffydd Young
Gruffydd Young or Griffin Yonge (c. 1370–c. 1435) was a cleric and a close supporter of
Owain Glyndwr during his Welsh rebellion against the English King Henry IV between 1400 and 1412.Winning favour
He was of
illegitimate birth and won the favour of QueenAnne of Bohemia , the first wife ofKing Richard II of England.Church career
Between 1391 and 1403 he held various positions within the dioceses of
St. Davids andBangor, Gwynedd atLlanynys betweenDenbigh andRuthin andLlanbadarn Fawr and then prebends atGarthbrengy nearBrecon ,Boughrood nearHay-on-Wye ,Lampeter and Bangor itself.He rose to be vicar-general at
St. Davids and thenArchdeacon ofMerioneth .Glyndwr's Chancellor & Envoy in France
He allied himself to Glyndwr in 1403 becoming Owain's Chancellor and by 1404 was in
Paris , with Glyndwr's brother-in-lawJohn Hanmer andJohn Trevor theBishop ofSt. Asaph negotiating a treaty of alliance with the FrenchKing Charles VI of France , or at least with his representativeJames II, Count of La Marche .He was closely involved in Owain's strategy and formulated the Pennal Policy in which Owain stated that he would transfer the allegiance of the Welsh church away from
Rome toPope Benedict XIII inAvignon .In 1407 he managed to gain the role of
Bishop of Bangor after intrigues against the incumbentBishop Llywelyn Byford and within a few months ensured his own transfer toSt. Davids where if the Pennal Policy had come into effect he would have become the primate of the Church in Wales.Setbacks
By 1408 as the rebellion was experiencing setbacks he made his own future plans. Outside events were leading towards the
Council of Constance which soon brought the schism of two competing Popes to an end with the election ofPope Martin V . The Pennal Policy was to become redundant. Young instead was appointed asBishop of Ross by Pope Martin V but he was never really in firm control of his diocese and was transferred to become Bishop of Hippo inNorth Africa along with two livings inRheims andTours inFrance .He was appointed abbot of the
abbey of Le Thoronet , in the south of France, byPope Martin V in 1430.He was still referring to himself as Bishop of Ross in 1430 and certainly lived beyond 1432. His exact end is not known.
Sources
* JE Lloyd : 'Owen Glendower'
* Chris Barber : 'In Search of Owain Glyndwr'
* Archives départementales du Var : Bulla Papae Martini V, 2H19
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