Gruffydd Young (or Griffin Yonge) (c. 1370 – c. 1435) was a cleric and a close supporter of

Owain Glyndŵr Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...

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

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Anne of Bohemia Anne of Bohemia (11 May 1366 – 7 June 1394), also known as Anne of Luxembourg, was Queen consort of England, Queen of England as the first wife of King Richard II. A member of the House of Luxembourg, she was the daughter of Charles IV, Holy ...

, the first wife of

King Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward, Prince of Wales (later known as the Black Prince), and Joan, Countess of Kent. R ...

of England.

Church career

Between 1391 and 1403 he held various positions within the dioceses of St. Davids and

Bangor, Gwynedd Bangor (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, north Wales. It is the oldest city in Wales. Historic counties of Wales, Historically part of Caernarfonshire, the community had a ...

at Llanynys between

Denbigh Denbigh ( ; ) is a market town and a community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. It was the original county town of the Denbighshire (historic), historic county of Denbighshire created in 1536. Denbigh's Welsh name () translates to ...

and Ruthin and Llanbadarn Fawr and then prebends at Garthbrengy near

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

, Boughrood near

Hay-on-Wye Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay (; or simply ), is a market town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a book town, "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the s ...

, Lampeter and Bangor itself. He rose to be vicar-general at St. Davids and then Archdeacon of Merioneth.

Glyndŵr's Chancellor and Envoy in France

He allied himself to Glyndŵr in 1403 becoming Owain's Chancellor and by 1404 was in Paris, with Glyndŵr's brother-in-law John Hanmer and John Trevor the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of St. Asaph negotiating a treaty of alliance with the French

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved () and in the 19th century, the Mad ( or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychosis, psychotic episodes t ...

, or at least with his representative James 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 to the Antipope Benedict XIII in

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

. In 1407 he managed to gain the role of Bishop of Bangor after intrigues against the incumbent

Llywelyn Byford and within a few months ensured his own transfer to St. 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 The Council of Constance (; ) was an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church that was held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance (Konstanz) in present-day Germany. This was the first time that an ecumenical council was convened in ...

which soon brought the schism of two competing Popes to an end with the election of

Pope Martin V Pope Martin V (; ; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Oddone Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. His election effectively ended the We ...

. The Pennal Policy was to become redundant. Young instead was appointed as Bishop of Ross in the Kingdom of Scotland, by Pope Martin V, but he was never really in firm control of his diocese and was transferred to become titular Bishop of Hippo in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

along with two livings in Rheims and

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

in France. He was appointed abbot of the abbey of Le Thoronet, in the south of France, by

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 Glyndŵr' * Archives départementales du Var : Bulla Papae Martini V, 2H19 {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Gruffydd 1370 births 1435 deaths Bishops of Ross (Scotland) 15th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops 14th-century Welsh Roman Catholic priests