Morris Williams (20 August 1809 – 3 January 1874), was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

clergyman and writer, commonly known by his

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh language, Welsh term bardd ('poet') originally referred to the Welsh poets of the M ...

Nicander. He worked on the Welsh Prayer Book of 1841 and himself produced a metrical Welsh Psalms of David.

Early life

Williams was born at

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

, the son of William Morris. His mother, Sarah, was the sister of Peter Jones (Pedr Fardd). The family moved to Coed Cae Bach, Llangybi and he went to school at

Llanystumdwy Llanystumdwy () is a predominantly Welsh-speaking village, community and electoral ward in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd in Wales. The village lies on the southern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, with a beach facing Cardigan Bay, between Cricci ...

. He was then apprenticed to a carpenter. Once his talent for poetry had been recognised, he was able to attend the

King's School, Chester The King's School, Chester, is a co-educational private day school for pupils aged 4 to 18. It is one of the seven 'King's Schools' established (or re-endowed and renamed) by King Henry VIII in 1541 after the Dissolution of the Monaster ...

, followed by

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

. He was ordained as an Anglican clergyman in 1836, and appointed Curate of

Holywell Holywell may refer to: England * Holywell, Bedfordshire * Holywell, Cambridgeshire * Holywell, Cornwall * Holywell, Dorset * Holywell, Eastbourne, East Sussex * Holywell, Gloucestershire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Ho-Hoo#Hol, location in ...

, later of Bangor and

Pentir Pentir is a community and electoral ward in the county of Gwynedd, Wales, and is 124 miles (199.9 km) from Cardiff and 205 miles (329.4 km) from London. In 2011 the population of Pentir was 2450 with 58.7% of them able to speak Welsh. ...

, and eventually of

Amlwch Amlwch () is a port town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated on the north coast of the Anglesey, Isle of Anglesey, on the A5025 road, A5025 which connects it to Holyhead and to Menai Bridge. As well as Amlwch town and Am ...

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

. In 1840, Williams married Ann Jones of Denbigh. They had eight children.

Bardic chair and rectory

At the Aberffraw ''

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

'' of 1849, Williams won the bardic chair for an ''

awdl In Welsh poetry, an ''awdl'' () is a long poem in strict metre (i.e. ''cynghanedd''). Originally, an ''awdl'' could be a relatively short poem unified by its use of a single end-rhyme (the word is related to ''odl'', "rhyme"), using cynghanedd; ...

'' on the Creation. In 1859 he became the Rector of Llanrhuddlad, with

Llanfflewyn Llanfflewyn is a village in the community of Mechell, Anglesey, Wales, which is 141.9 miles (228.3 km) from Cardiff and 224.1 miles (360.6 km) from London. St Fflewin's Church, Llanfflewin is located here. References See also * ...

and the isolated St Rhwydrus's Church, Llanrhwydrus, in Anglesey. He won the bardic chair again in 1861 at Aberdare.

Theological literature

Williams in his theological beliefs was a follower of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...

. Whilst serving at Holywell, he was one of four commissioners who prepared the revised edition of the Welsh Prayer Book of 1841. Later, while pastor at Amlwch on Anglesey, he translated the Book of Psalms into Welsh metre, entitling it ''Y Psallwyr, neu Psalmau Dafydd'' (The Psalter, or the Psalms of David).British Library entry
Retrieved 28 June 2021.
/ref> He wanted to make psalm singing more popular by using a wider variety of metres than Prys had done. He completed his psalter in 1850 and dedicated it to the Marquis of Lansdowne. In 1851 he began editing the new folio edition of the Welsh Bible for SPCK.

Works

*''Y Flwyddyn Eglwysig'' (1843)

Translations

*''Disce Vivere'' (1847) *''Disce Mori'' (1848) *''Y Psallwyr'' Metrical version of the

Psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

(Llundain: H. Hughes; 1850)

Edited

*''Llyfr yr Homiliau'' (1847) *Works of

Dafydd Ionawr David Richards (22 January 1751 – 12 May 1827), better-known by his bardic name Dafydd Ionawr, was a Welsh-language poet, born at Glanyrafon near Bryn-crug in the parish of Tywyn in Merionethshire (now Gwynedd), north-west Wales. He took an in ...

(1851)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Morris (Nicander) 1809 births 1874 deaths People from Caernarfon 19th-century Welsh writers Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Chaired bards Anglo-Catholic clergy 19th-century Welsh Anglican priests 19th-century Welsh poets Anglican poets Welsh Anglo-Catholics Anglo-Catholic writers Anglo-Catholic poets