Peter Morwen (1530?–1573?) was an English clergyman and

Marian exile The Marian exiles were English Protestants who fled to Continental Europe during the 1553–1558 reign of the Catholic monarchs Queen Mary I and King Philip.Christina Hallowell Garrett (1938) ''Marian Exiles: A Study in the Origins of Elizabethan ...

, known as a translator.

Life

Morwen graduated B.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1550, and was elected a Fellow in 1552; in June next year he supplicated for the degree of M.A. A

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, he was expelled from his fellowship when Bishop Stephen Gardiner made a visitation of Oxford University in October 1553. He went to Germany. On the accession of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

Morwen returned home, was ordained deacon by Edmund Grindal on 25 January 1560, and was granted his master's degree at Oxford on 16 February. He became rector of Langwith, Nottinghamshire, in 1560; of

Norbury, Derbyshire Norbury is a village in Derbyshire, England. It is located north of Rocester, on the B5033 road and the River Dove (which is the traditional border for Staffordshire). The hamlet has links with George Eliot's family, the Evans. George Eliot's ...

, in 1564, and of

Ryton, Warwickshire Bulkington is a large village and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Bedworth, in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : In the 2011 census the ward ...

, in 1556.

Thomas Bentham Thomas Bentham (1513/14–1579) was a scholar and a Protestant minister. One of the Marian exiles, he returned to England to minister to an underground congregation in London. He was made the first Elizabethan bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, se ...

was

bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West ...

and an old college friend: he made him Morwen his chaplain, and gave him a prebend in

Lichfield Cathedral Lichfield Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, one of only three cathedrals in the United Kingdom with three spires (together with Truro Cathedral and St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh), and the only medieva ...

on 27 October 1567. A successor was appointed in the prebend on 6 March 1573, and Morwen probably died a month or two before.

Works

Morwen translated into English the '' Josippon'', Joseph Ben Gorion's "History of the Jews".' This work was for Richard Jugge the printer, and it must have been mainly accomplished while Morwen was an exile in Germany. The first edition was dated 1558, and had the title ''A compendious and moste marveylous History of the latter Times of the Jewes Commune Weale'' (London). Six other editions appeared. Morwen also rendered into English from the Latin, Conrad Gesner's ''Treasure of Euonymus''''Treasure of Euonymus conteyninge the Wonderfull hid Secretes of Nature touchinge the most apte formes to prepare and destyl medicines'', London, by John Daye, 1559. A new edition ''A new Booke of Distillation of Waters, called the Treasure of Euonymus'' is dated 1565.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Morwen, Peter 1530 births 1573 deaths 16th-century English Anglican priests Marian exiles English translators Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford English male non-fiction writers