CROWN SERVANTS: SERIES TWO

The Papers of The Wynns of Gwydir, 1515-1690 and the Clenennau Letters and Papers, 1584-1698 from the National Library of Wales

Publisher's Note

Series Two of this project comprises the domestic and official correspondence and memoranda, 1515 to 1690, of the Wynns of Gwydir, the most powerful family of North Wales. The collection includes documents relating to a wealth of events, of both national and local importance, that occurred during the 175 year period covered by these papers.

Also included in this publication are the Clenennau Letters and Papers, 1584-1698. This is another important collection of documents from north Wales, that dove-tails neatly with the Wynn Papers. The Clenennau estate was one of the most important in Carnarvonshire, and its owners were amongst the county’s elite. Covering the period 1584-1698, the documents in this collection fall into three distinct groups. The first relates to Sir William Maurice and cover the period 1584-1622; the second group belong to his successor at Clenennau the royalist Sir John Owen and are dated between 1628-1666; whilst the final selection originate with Sir Robert Owen and deal with events between 1666-1698. The documents from all three sections cover a wide range of topics from local affairs to national and international politics. Many of the letters in the Clenennau collection are written by or to members of the Wynn family, and highlight the acrimony and diffferences of opinion that existed , especially between Sir John Wynn and Sir William Maurice.

An ideal source for the study of ‘British’ history and relations between the core and the periphery, this project, combining the papers of the leading gentry families from early modern Wales, covers many of the key national and local events that marked the period. There are numerous references to and evaluations of such events as:

• The preparations for the wars in Scotland and France (during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI)
• Catholicism under Mary, and the return of Protestantism with the accession of Elizabeth I
• The fall and recall of Lord Keeper John Williams
• Elizabeth I’s conflicts in Ireland and with Spain
• The Civil Wars (in general, and with particular regard to north Wales)
• The Committal of Sir Walter Raleigh and Lords Cobham and Grey
• The Gunpowder Plot
• The War in the Palatinate
• The Marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V, Elector Palatinate
• Prince Charles’ visit to Spain
• The Rebellion under Sir George Booth, in which Sir Richard Wynn took part
• The Restoration of Charles Stuart and the revenge on the Regicides
• Charles II’s marriage to Catherine of Braganza
• The outbreak of plague in 1625
• The impeachment of Strafford and Laud
• The Fall of Clarendon
• The Great Plague and the Fire of London

As well as high politics, these collections also contain documents of a more personal and every-day nature, such as household accounts, comments on travelling the country, the publication of a Welsh dictionary, and family relationships and business.

The main characters represented in the documents include:

Sir John Wynn (1553-1627) the first baronet; a landowner, administrator, patron of literature and businessman. He was a member of the Council of the Marches in Wales, Deputy Lieutenant of Carnarvonshire, and twice Sheriff, receiving many communications from the Privy Council concerning government affairs and the mustering of soldiers. His papers include many newsletters from London.

Sir Richard Wynn (15??-1649) Sir John’s son, lived at court in the Service of Lord Chamberlain. He was Secretary to Prince Charles on his trip to Spain in 1623, and in 1629 became Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles I, and later Treasurer of the Household to Queen Henrietta Maria and Commissioner for Carnarvonshire.

Sir Owen Wynn (1592?-1660), Sir Richard’s brother, was Deputy Lieutenant of Carnarvonshire, Sheriff of Carnarvonshire and Denbighshire.

Sir Richard Wynn, son of Sir Owen, he became the 4th baronet upon his father’s death in 1660. He held the positions of Sheriff, Deputy Lieutenant and Knight of the Shire for Carnarvonshire.
Maurice Wynn, son of Sir John Wynn, he became a merchant in Hamburg from where he supplied the family with news from abroad.

Sir William Maurice (1542-1622) Member of Parliament and chief correspondent of the Clenennau Letters during the period 1580-1622.

Sir John Owen chief correspondent of the Clenennau Letters during the period 1628-1666

Sir Richard Owen chief correspondent of the Clenennau Letters during the period 1666-1698

This microfilm project draws together related material from various manuscript collections held at the National Library of Wales: the Panton Collection, the Williams Collection and the Brogyntyn Collection. Reels 2-14 provides Wynn of Gwydir records collected by the antiquarian Paul Panton (1727-1797) and his son Paul Panton (1758-1822); whilst the documents on Reels 15-17 provide similar material from the collection of Sir John Williams (1840-1926). The manuscripts on Reels 18-23 shift the focus slightly by offering the letters and papers (1584-1698) from the Clenennau estate held in the Brogyntyn Collection.

For both the Wynn Papers and the Clenennau Letters, calendars of their contents have been included in this microfilm collection. The printed Calendar of Wynn (of Gwydir) Papers, 1515-1690 (Aberystwyth, 1926) contains indexes of all the persons, places and subjects mentioned in the documents from the Panton and Williams collections. There is a précis of each item that will provide invaluable aid to scholars. The calendars for the Clenennau Letters and Papers (Aberystwyth, 1947), however, were found to be somewhat unreliable and so have not been included in their entirety in this collection. Instead, only those portions of the original calenadar considered trustworthy have been included. Where found to be innaccurate, corrected page proofs and newly typed transcripts have been substituted. These calendars can be found on Reel 1 of this microfilm publication.

The nature of and age of the documents included in this collection inevitably lead to a certain number of problems

As the Calendar of the Wynn Papers says, the strength of this collection lies in its ability to “present to the reader the great historical events of the period as viewed through contemporary eyes, while its value is further enhanced by the fact that not a few of the writers of the documents were closely connected with persons of high rank and position in the State, and consequently with official sources of information.” In all, this publication provides first hand and alternative interpretations of national events, as well as local conditions and affairs in north Wales.

Attention should be drawn to the nature of the original material.  Inevitably with manuscript material of this age, there are a few documents that  consist of faintly legible correspondence or which are written on paper that has become stained or discoloured, rendering the original document difficult to read.  These original characteristics present difficulties of image and contrast which stringent tests and camera alterations cannot always entirely overcome.  Every effort has been made to minimise these difficulties and several documents have been filmed more than once at different exposures.  The National Library of Wales has exercised the most responsible care in the filming of this unique collection and this microfilm publication meets the standards established by the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

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