John Prise

{{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = The Honourable Sir | name = John Prise | honorific_suffix = | native_name = {{langx|cy|Syr Siôn ap Rhys}} | native_name_lang = | image =  | image_upright = | landscape =  | alt =  | caption = | pronunciation = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{circa|1501–1502}}  | birth_place = Brecon | death_date = {{Death date and age|1555|10|15|1502|df=y}}  | death_place = St Guthlac's Priory, Hereford | death_cause =  | resting_place = Hereford Cathedral | resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|52.0542|-2.716|type:landmark|display=inline}} | monuments = | other_names = | siglum = | citizenship =  | education = {{unbulleted list |University of Oxford |University of Cambridge (BCL) }} | alma_mater = | occupation = {{hlist|Administrator|scholar}} | years_active = | era = | employer = | organization = | agent =  | known_for = | notable_works = ''Yny lhyvyr hwnn'' | style = | spouse = {{marriage |Joan Williamson |11 October 1534 }} | children = {{unbulleted list |Katherine Prise}} '''''with Joan''''':{{unbulleted list | Gregory Prise | Richard Prise | John Prise | William Prise | Bartholomew Prise | Eleanor Prise | Joan Prise | Jane Prise | Mary Prise | Ursula Prise }} | mother = Gwenllian ferch Hywel Madog  | father = Rhys ap Gwilym ap Llywelyn  | relatives = | family = | signature = | signature_type = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | footnotes = }}

[[File:Yny Lhyvyr hwnn title page.jpg|thumb|The title page of ''Yny lhyvyr hwnn'' by Prise, a primer that was the first printed book in Welsh]] '''Sir John Prise''' (also Prys, Price; {{langx|cy|Syr Siôn ap Rhys}}) (1501/2 – 15 October 1555) of Brecon and Hereford, was a Welsh public notary, who acted as a royal agent and visitor of the monasteries. He was also a scholar, associated with the first Welsh printed publication ''Yn y lhyvyr hwnn''. He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Breconshire in 1547; Hereford October 1553; Ludlow April 1554; and Ludgershall November 1554.<ref name="Pryce" >{{Cite ODNB |first=Huw |last=Pryce |origyear=2004 |date=January 2026 |title=Prise, Sir John [Syr Siôn ap Rhys] (1501/2–1555) |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/22752}}</ref><ref name="Edwards">{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=P. S. |editor1-last=Bindoff |editor1-first=S. T. |title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 |date=1982 |via=History of Parliament Online |chapter-url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/price-sir-john-15012-55 |chapter=Price, Sir John (1501/2-55), of Brecon and Hereford}}</ref>

==Life== John was the son of Rhys ab Gwilym by Gwenllian, daughter of Howel Madoc,<ref name="Jones" /> born between 12 October 1501 and 11 October 1502,<ref name="Pryce" /> in Brecon.<ref name="Fulton2022">{{Cite journal |last=Fulton |first=Helen |date=2022-06-01 |title=Sir John Prise and his books: Manuscript culture in the March of Wales |journal=The Welsh History Review |language=en |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=55–78 |doi=10.16922/whr.31.1.3 |issn=0083-792X}}</ref> He was educated at Oxford, practiced in the Court of Arches and subsequently graduated BCL at Cambridge in 1535/6.<ref name="Pryce" /><ref name="Edwards" /><ref name="Wood&Bliss">{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Anthony A. |author1-link=Anthony Wood (antiquary) |last2=Bliss |first2=Philip |author-link2=Philip Bliss (academic) |title=Athenæ Oxonienses: An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops Who Have Had Their Education in the University of Oxford: To Which Are Added the Fasti, or Annals of the Said University |volume=1 |date=1813 |publisher=Printed for F.C. and J. Rivington ... [and 11 others] |location=London |oclc=847943279 |pages=216-218 |edition=3rd |url=https://archive.org/details/athenaeoxoniense01wooduoft/page/n309/mode/1up}}</ref> By 1530 he was a servant of Thomas Cromwell, to whom he would later be related by marriage.<ref name="Edwards" />

In May 1532, when the Earl of Westmorland and the Earl of Cumberland and Sir Thomas Clifford searched Cuthbert Tunstall's house at Bishop Auckland, Price looked into the manuscripts, and made a report to Cromwell. In June 1533 he was one of the "servitors at the dresser", responsible for managing the "dresser" (a table or sideboard) where food was prepared and arranged before being served at the coronation of Anne Boleyn.<ref name="Edwards" />

===Family=== On 11 October 1534 at Thomas Cromwell's house at Islington, he married the minister's niece, Joan (b. c. 1515/6), daughter of John Williamson of Southwark, by whom he had eleven children:<ref name="Edwards" /><ref name="Jones">{{Dictionary of Welsh Biography |id=s-PRIC-JOH-1502 |title=Price (or Prys), Sir John (1502? - 1555), Notary Public, the King's Principal Registrar in Causes Ecclesiastical, and Secretary of the Council in Wales and the Marches |year=1959 |first=Evan David |last=Jones |author-link=E. D. Jones |access-date=10 March 2026 }}</ref> <br>six sons, including:<ref name="Edwards" /> * Gregory Prise (6 August 1535–1600), married 1. Mary, daughter of Humphrey Coningsby (d. 1558) of Hampton Court, Herefordshire;<ref name="Weaver">{{cite book |last1=Cooke |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Cooke (officer of arms) |editor-last=Weaver |editor-first=Frederic William |title=The Visitation of Herefordshire Made by Robert Cooke, Clarencieux, in 1569 |place=Exeter |publisher=Privately printed for the Editor by William Pollard |year=1886 |url=https://archive.org/details/visitationofhere00cookrich/page/58/mode/1up |oclc=714188697 |page=58}}</ref><ref name="Jones&Bailey" /> 2. Grissel, daughter of Walter Roberts of Glassenbury, Kent, widow of Gervase Gebons.<ref name="Gregory">{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=P. S. |editor1-last=Bindoff |editor1-first=S.T. |title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558 |date=1982 |via=History of Parliament Online |chapter-url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/price-gregory-1535-1600 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250123161223/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/price-gregory-1535-1600 |archive-date=23 January 2025 |chapter=Price, Gregory (1535-1600), of Hereford}}</ref> * Richard Prise (c.1538–c.1587), married Elizabeth, daughter of William Wightman of Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex.<ref name="Weaver" /><ref name="Richard">{{cite book |last1=A.H.D. |editor1-last=Hasler |editor1-first=P. W. |title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-160 |date=1981 |via=History of Parliament Online |chapter-url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/price-richard-i-1538-c87 |chapter=PRICE, Richard I (c.1538-c.87), of The Priory, Brecon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241216214830/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/price-richard-i-1538-c87 |archive-date=16 December 2024 |quote=The tradition that Richard Price was himself a man of letters and an associate of Shakespeare lacks foundation.}}</ref> * John Prise, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Games.<ref name="Weaver" /><ref name="Jones&Bailey" /><ref name="Siddons">{{cite book |last1=Siddons |first1=Michael Powell |author-link1=Michael Siddons |title=The Visitation of Herefordshire, 1634 |series=Publications of the Harleian Society, new series |volume=15 |date=2002 |publisher=Harleian Society |location=London |isbn=9780954044312 |oclc=50646822 |pages=102-103}}</ref> * William Prise<ref name="Weaver" /> * Bartholomew Prise<ref name="Weaver" /> five daughters:<ref name="Edwards" /> * Eleanor Prise, married Thomas Walwin (d. 1580) of Longford.<ref name="Weaver" /> * Joan Prise (b. 14 November 1542), married 1. Thomas Williams of Estradfyn, Cardigan;<ref name="Weaver" /> 2. Sir George Devereux of Lamphey Court, Pembrokeshire;<ref name="Jones&Bailey">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Theophilus |author1-link=Theophilus Jones (historian) |last2=Bailey |first2=Joseph Russell |author2-link=Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk |title=A History of the County of Brecknock. Enlarged by the Notes Collected by Sir Joseph Russell Bailey, Bart., First Baron Glanusk (Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire) |volume=2 |year=1909 |publisher=Blissett, Davies & Co. |location=Brecon |oclc=558065705 |page=139 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcountyo02jone/page/139/mode/1up}}</ref><ref name="A.H.D.">{{cite book |last1=A.H.D. |editor1-last=Hasler |editor1-first=P. W. |title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603 |date=1981 |via=History of Parliament Online |chapter-url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/devereux-george |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241220155606/https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/devereux-george |archive-date=20 December 2024 |chapter=Devereux, George, of Lamphey Court, Pemb. and Llwyn y Brain, Carm}}</ref> 3. Thomas Jones (c.1530–1609) of Fountain Gate, ''alias'' Twm Siôn Cati.<ref name="Jones&Bailey" /><ref name="Jenkins">{{Dictionary of Welsh Biography |id=s-JONE-THO-1530 |title=Jones, Thomas ('Twm Shôn Catti'; 1532 - 1609), Landowner, Antiquary, Genealogist, and Bard |year=1959 |first=A. David Fraser |last=Jenkins |access-date=14 March 2026 }}</ref> * Jane Prise<ref name="Wood&Bliss" /> * Mary Prise, married Thomas Morgan of Lanver, Monmouthshire.<ref name="Weaver" /> * Ursula Prise<ref name="Weaver" />

The first four children were born in London, and their names indicate their father's connections in the city: the eldest son was named after Thomas Cromwell's son, Gregory, the second surviving son after Cromwell's nephew, Richard, and the eldest daughter, Eleanor, after the wife of Christopher Barker, Garter King of Arms.<ref name="Pryce" /> From 8 June 1540 he had the lease, and from 13 November 1542 the grant in fee, of the priory of St Guthlac at Hereford, which he made his principal residence, and where his fifth and subsequent children were born. He was also granted Brecon Priory in 1542.<ref name="Pryce" />

This may not have been Prise's first marriage, as his will refers to a married daughter,<ref name="Pryce" /> ″my Daughter Gomonde″,<ref name="Morgan">{{cite journal |last1=Morgan |first1=F. C. |title=The Will of Sir John Prise of Hereford, 1555 |journal=The National Library of Wales Journal |date=1955 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=255–261 at p. 260}}</ref> Katherine, the 1st wife of James Gomond of Byford, Herefordshire,<ref name="Gomond">{{cite book |last1=Cooke |first1=Robert |author1-link=Robert Cooke (officer of arms) |editor-last=Weaver |editor-first=Frederic William |title=The Visitation of Herefordshire Made by Robert Cooke, Clarencieux, in 1569 |place=Exeter |publisher=Privately printed for the Editor by William Pollard |year=1886 |url=https://archive.org/details/visitationofhere00cookrich/page/34/mode/1up |oclc=714188697 |page=34}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Siddons|2002|p=100}} see also {{harvnb|Jones|1959|ps=: "He is believed to have been twice married, for in his will, 1555, he names a married daughter, Elizabeth."}}</ref> who was older than any of the children he had with Joan.<ref name="Pryce" />

In December 1534 Prise was granted the registrarship of the bishopric of Salisbury.<ref name="Edwards" /> In April 1535 he took part in the proceedings against the Carthusians as to the royal supremacy. He officiated in the same way at the trial of John Fisher and Thomas More. He took part in the major visitation of the monasteries of 1535, alongside Sir Thomas Legh and penned one of the summaries of the visit (cf. Compendium Compertorum). When the Pilgrimage of Grace was quelled, he assisted in trying the rebels. For his services he received in 1537–38 a joint lease of Carmarthen rectory, and a lease of Brecon Priory and rectory. He also bought St Guthlac's Priory in Hereford.<ref name="Archbold" /> In a petition of 1538 he asked for the manor of West Dereham. A letter from Rowland Lee to Thomas Cromwell indicates that Prise had been some time in the service of the Earl of Arundel as constable of Clun Castle.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Gairdner |editor1-first=James |editor1-link=James Gairdner |title=Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 13 Part 1, January-July 1538 |date=1892 |publisher=H.M.S.O. |location=London |no-pp=yes |page=no. 768 |via=British History Online |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol13/no1/pp277-291 |chapter=Henry VIII: April 1538, 10-15}}</ref>

In April 1535 he took part in the proceedings against the Carthusians as to the royal supremacy. He officiated in the same way at the trial of John Fisher and Thomas More. He took part in the major visitation of the monasteries of 1535, alongside Sir Thomas Legh and penned one of the summaries of the visit (cf. ''Compendium Compertorum''). He was a public notary by 1536.<ref name="Edwards" />

When the Pilgrimage of Grace was quelled, he assisted in trying the rebels. For his services he received in 1537–38 a joint lease of Carmarthen rectory, and a lease of Brecon Priory and rectory. He also bought St Guthlac's Priory in Hereford. In a petition of 1538 he asked for the manor of West Dereham.

He took part in public affairs, for example in the union of England and Wales, drafting or suggesting the petition on which the statutes were framed. He was Sheriff of Breconshire in 1541, and lived chiefly at Brecon Priory. He served as a justice of the peace (JP) for Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Shropshire, Welsh counties in 1543 and for Cheshire, Glouctershire and Worcestershire from 1545 to 1547. He was knighted on 22 February 1547, two days after the coronation of Edward VI.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=W.A. |author1-link=William Arthur Shaw |last2=Burtchaell |first2=B.D. |author2-link=George Dames Burtchaell |title=The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of All the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of Knights Bachelors, Incorporating a Complete List of Knights Bachelors Dubbed in Ireland |volume=II |pages=59–[https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland02shawuoft/knightsofengland02shawuoft/page/n69/mode/1up 60] |others=Incorporating a complete list of Knights Bachelors dubbed in Ireland, compiled by G. D. Burtchaell |url=https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland02shawuoft/knightsofengland02shawuoft/page/n69/mode/1up |location=London |publisher=Printed and published for the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, Sherratt and Hughes |year=1906 |quote=Knights of the Carpet dubbed by the King on Tuesday after the Coronation, being Shrove Tuesday.}}</ref> He was elected knight of the shire for Breconshire in the same year, and became secretary of the council for the Welsh marches in 1551.<ref name="Edwards" />

During the reign of Mary I he was elected MP for the seat of Hereford in October 1553, for Ludlow in April 1554, and for Ludgershall in November 1554.<ref name="Edwards" />

===Death=== He died on 15 October 1555 at St Guthlac's Priory, survived by his widow and ten of their children.<ref name="Pryce" /> In his will, dated 6 October 1555, he bequeathed his soul to God, to ″owre blessede ladie Sainte Marye And to all the blessed cumpanie of heavin″ and requested prayers on its behalf. He made numerous bequests, including sums of money for his daughters′ marriages, and asked to be buried in Hereford Cathedral.<ref name="Pryce" /><ref name="Edwards" />

==Works== Prise was encouraged as a scholar by the patronage of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and became a collector of manuscripts.<ref name="Archbold">{{cite DNB |wstitle=Price, John (d.1573?) |last=Archbold |first= William Arthur Jobson |authorlink= |volume=46 |pages=329–330 |quote= |vb= |supplement= |no-icon=1 |title= |url= |display=Price, John (d.1573?) |access-date=}}</ref><ref name="Beyond">{{cite web |title=Beyond the Work of One: Oxford College Libraries and their Benefactors: An exhibition at the Bodleian Library, 24 May – 1 November 2008: The 13th – 16th Centuries |url=https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/online/workofone |website=Bodleian Libraries |access-date=10 March 2026 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/6780/20210227214953/https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on/online/workofone/theme1 |archive-date=27 February 2021}}</ref> He wrote: * ''Historiae Britannicae Defensio'', composed about 1553, published by his son Richard in 1573, and dedicated to Lord Burghley; in part a protest against Polydore Vergil. It defended the traditional historical accounts of Brutus of Troy and King Arthur in early British history.<ref>{{Cite book |last=French |first=Peter J. |title=John Dee: the world of an Elizabethan magus |date=1987 |publisher=Ark |isbn=978-0-7448-0079-1 |location=London |page=195}}</ref> * ''Description of Cambria'', translated and enlarged by Humphrey Lhuyd, and published as part of ''The Historie of Cambria, Now Called Wales'' by David Powel, 1584; other editions 1697, 1702, 1774, and 1812.<ref name="Wood&Bliss" /><ref name="Archbold" /> * ''Fides Historian Britannicae'', a correction of Polydore Vergil (Brit. Mus. Cotton MS. Titus, F. iii. 17).<ref name="Wood&Bliss" /><ref name="Archbold" /> * A tract on the restitution of the coinage, written in 1553; dedicated to Queen Mary (MS. New Coll. Oxon. Arch. MS. 317, iii.); in this tract he refers to a larger treatise on the same subject, which is not extant.<ref name="Wood&Bliss" /><ref name="Archbold" />

He is also said to have translated and published the Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments in Welsh, for the first time, in ''Yn y lhyvyr hwnn'' (1546).<ref name="Pryce" /><ref name="Gruffydd">{{cite journal |last1=Gruffydd |first1=R. Geraint |author-link=R. Geraint Gruffydd |title=Yny Lhyvyr Hwnn (1546): The Earliest Welsh Printed Book |journal=The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies |date=May 1969 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=105-116 |url=https://www.library.wales/discover-learn/digital-exhibitions/printed-material/yny-lhyvyr-hwnn/the-earliest-welsh-printed-book |access-date=9 March 2026}}</ref>

===Modern editions=== * {{Cite book |title=John Price: Historiae Britannicae defensio: A defence of the British history |editor-last=Davies |editor-first=Ceri |date=2015 |publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies / The Bodleian Library |isbn=978-0-88844-195-9 |series=Studies and texts |volume=195 |location=Toronto, Ontario, Canada / Oxford |oclc=901996317}}

==Arms== {{Emblem table | name = John Prise | image =  | imagesize = | notes = | year_adopted = | coronet = | crest = A cock Gules, combed and legged Or, charged on the neck with two bars of the second, holding in the beak a heartsease.<ref name="Metcalfe" /> | torse = | helm = | escutcheon = Sable, on a chevron between three leopards' heads Argent as many spear-heads of the field, on a chief of the second as many cocks Gules.<ref name="Metcalfe">{{cite book |last1=Metcalfe |first1=Walter C. |title=A Book of Knights Banneret, Knights of the Bath, and Knights Bachelor, Made between the Fourth Year of King Henry VI and the Restoration of King Charles II and Knights Made in Ireland, between the Years 1566 and 1698, Together with an Index of Names |date=1885 |publisher=Mitchell and Hughes |location=London |oclc=5319383 |url=https://archive.org/details/abookknightsban00metcgoog/page/n110/mode/1up |page=94}}</ref> | supporters = | compartment = | motto = ''Sine flore in originali''<br/>(Latin for "Without flower in the original")<ref name="Metcalfe" /> | orders = | other_elements = | bannerimage = | banner = | badgetitle =  | badgeimage =  | badge = | badge2title =  | badge2image =  | badge2 = | badge3title =  | badge3image =  | badge3 = | symbolism = | previous_versions = | other_versions = }}

==References== {{Reflist|30 em}} {{sfn whitelist| CITEREFJones1959}}

===Attribution=== *{{DNB|wstitle=Price, John (d.1573?) |last=Archbold |first= William Arthur Jobson |pages=329–330 |no-icon=1}}

==Further reading== *{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Ceri |chapter=Two Welsh Renaissance Latinists: Sir John Prise of Brecon and Dr John Davies of Mallwyd |editor1-last=Burnett |editor1-first=Charles |title=Britannia latina: Latin in the culture of Great Britain from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century |editor2-last=Mann |editor2-first=Nicholas |date=2005 |publisher=Warburg Institute |isbn=978-0-85481-137-3 |series=Warburg institute colloquia |location=London}} *{{Cite journal |last=Ker |first=Neil R. |date=1955 |title=Sir John Prise |journal=The Library |language=en |series=5th ser. |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1093/library/s5-X.1.1 |issn=0024-2160}}

==External links== {{Commons category|John Prise|John Prise}} {{DNB poster|Price, John (d.1573?)|John Prise}} * [https://archive.org/details/historieofcambri00cara/page/n6/mode/2up ''The Historie of Cambria, Now Called Wales'' (1584)] * [https://archive.org/details/historieofcambri00cara/page/n22/mode/2up ''A Description of Cambria Now Called Wales: Drawne first by Sir Iohn Price knight, and afterward augmented and made perfect by Humfrey Lhoyd gentleman''] * [https://middletemplelibrary.wordpress.com/2018/01/04/rare-book-of-the-month-january-2018/ ''Historiae Brytannicae defensio''] Middle Temple Library Blog * {{UK National Archives ID|F55177}}

{{S-start}} {{S-par|en}} {{Succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Breconshire | years = 1547–1552 | with = | before = John Games ''alias'' Ap Morgan | before2 = | after = Roger Vaughan | after2 = }} {{Succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Hereford | years = October 1553–December 1553 | with = Thomas Havard | before = Hugh Welshe | before2 = (not known} | after = Thomas Havard | after2 = Thomas Bromwich }} {{Succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Ludlow | years = April 1554–May 1554 | with = Thomas Blashefield | before = Thomas Wheeler | before2 = John Passey | after = James Warnecombe | after2 = John Allsop }} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Ludgershall | with = Arthur Allen | years = November 1554–January 1555 | before = John Winchcombe | before2 = Edmund Powell | after = John Story | after2 = John Winchcombe }} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prise, John}} Category:1500s births Category:1555 deaths Category:Welsh lawyers Category:Welsh writers Category:People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries Category:16th-century Welsh writers Category:16th-century English male writers Category:High sheriffs of Brecknockshire Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Wales Category:English MPs 1547–1552 Category:English MPs 1554 Category:English MPs 1553 (Mary I) Category:English MPs 1554–1555 Category:16th-century English knights Category:Burials at Hereford Cathedral