DAVIES, FRANCIS (1605 - 1675), bishop of Llandaff

he was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. (1625), M.A. (1628), and B.D. (1640). He became rector of Pentyrch with Radyr, 1630, rector of Llan-gan, apparently with Llantrithyd, 1638, and prebendary of S. Andrews in Llandaff cathedral, 1638.

During the Commonwealth he was ejected from the livings of Llan-gan and Pentyrch for 'not reading the Directory,' but received lenient treatment 'because of his great learning and excellent parts' and the favour of the Parliamentarian colonel Philip Jones, Fonmon. He was allowed a 'fourth' of the living of Llan-gan, and the living itself was leased to his brother Maurice. Later, payment of the 'fourth' was suspended and Davies maintained himself by keeping a private school and afterwards by entering the household of the countess of Peterborough as chaplain. At the Restoration, 1660, he returned as rector of Llan-gan and applied for the tithes of Llantrithyd. He petitioned for the archdeaconry of Llandaff on the grounds of his ejection and loyalty to the king's cause; Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury, endorsed the petition and Davies became archdeacon. In 1661 he received his D.D. He was consecrated bishop of Llandaff 24 August 1667, and lived and held his ecclesiastical courts at the episcopal manor of Mathern. He refounded the cathedral library, which had been destroyed during the Commonwealth, and installed the largest bell in the cathedral tower. He died 14 March 1675 and was buried before the high altar in Llandaff cathedral; his tombstone was revealed after the air-raid of 1941.

Author

• Archdeacon Lawrence Thomas, (1889 - 1960)

Sources

• Acts of the Bishops of Llandaff (1908–12)
• Athenae Oxonienses (1813–20)
• Browne Willis, A survey of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff (1719)
• J. Walker, An attempt towards recovering an account of the numbers and sufferings of the clergy of the Church of England, heads of colleges, fellows, scholars, etc., who were sequester'd, harrass'd, etc. in the late times of the Grand Rebellion occasion'd by the ninth chapter (now the second volume) of Dr. Calamy's Abridgment of the life of Mr. Baxter. Together with an examination of that chapter
• Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series
• T. Richards, A History of the Puritan Movement in Wales (1920),
• Religious Developments in Wales, 1654–1662 (1923), and
• Wales under the Penal Code, 1662-1687 (1925)

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Francis Davies

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q14945644

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/