John Davies (Mallwyd)

John Davies (c. 1567 – 1644) was one of the leading scholars of the late Renaissance in Wales.

Born in Llanferres, Denbighshire, the son of a weaver, he graduated from Jesus College, Oxford in 1594.

[1] He is believed to have been the main editor and reviser of the 1620 edition of the Welsh translation of the Bible and the 1621 edition of the Welsh translation of the Book of Common Prayer.

In 1632 he also published Llyfr y resolusion, a masterly translation and Protestant adaptation of The first booke of the Christian exercise, appertayning to resolution (1582) by English Roman Catholic Robert Parsons.

He died, possibly while at Harlech, on 15 May 1644, and was buried at Mallwyd church, where a memorial was erected to him on the 200th anniversary of his death.