author
Robert Williams
1810–1881
A Welsh clergyman and antiquary, he devoted much of his life to preserving medieval Welsh literature and to studying the Celtic languages. His work helped bring old manuscripts, dictionaries, and literary history to a wider audience.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Conwy, Caernarfonshire, on June 29, 1810, he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and later served in the Church of England. After early curacies in north Wales, he became vicar of Llangadwaladr on Anglesey, and much later rector of Culmington in Shropshire, where he died on December 27, 1881.
Alongside his clerical work, he became known as a careful scholar of Welsh and other Celtic traditions. He edited and translated medieval Welsh texts, contributed to the study of old manuscripts, and produced reference works including the Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum, a landmark Cornish dictionary published after his death.
His writing reflects a lifelong interest in language, history, and the survival of older literary traditions. For listeners drawn to folklore, medieval literature, or the cultural history of Wales and Cornwall, his work offers a window into the nineteenth-century revival of Celtic scholarship.