OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhun ap Maelgwn

​RHUN ap MAELGWN (fl. 550), British king, was the son of Maelgwn Gwynedd [q. v.], whom he succeeded as ruler of North Wales about 547. The mediæval romance known as ‘Breuddwyd Rhonabwy’ introduces Rhun as ‘a tall man with curly auburn hair,’ whose privilege it is to give counsel to all comers, and to whom Arthur accordingly brings his counsellors (Mabinogion, ed. Rhys and Evans, pp. 159, 160). This conjunction of Rhun and Arthur is an anachronism, but what is said of the former suggests that he inherited from his father not only North Wales, but also the authority of ‘gwledig,’ or overlord of the other Kymric princes. According to a ‘cyfarwyddyd’ or popular tale, quoted by Iorwerth ap Madog, who in the early part of the thirteenth century compiled the Venedotian code of the laws of Hywel the Good, Rhun invaded the north in order to avenge an inroad into Arfon (the region between Bangor and the Rivals) of the northern princes Clydno Eiddyn, Nudd Hael, Mordaf Hael, and Rhydderch Hael (fl. 570), whose comrade Elidyr Mwynfawr had been previously slain in the district. The men of Arfon led the van of Rhun's host, which was so long absent from Wales that on its triumphant return Rhun granted to Arfon fourteen perpetual privileges (Ancient Laws of Wales, ed. Owen, i. 104–6). Rowlands speaks in ‘Mona Antiqua’ (ed. 1723, p. 164) of other laws made by Rhun, contained in an old manuscript styled ‘Laws of Rhun ap Maelgwyn;’ this, however, was probably only a copy of the Venedotian code containing ‘Breiniau Arfon.’ Rhun appears in the Triads as one of the three ‘blessed rulers’ of the Isle of Britain (Myv. Arch. ser. i. 9, ser. ii. 8, ser. iii. 25), and also as one of the three ‘golden-shackled’ princes of the island (ib. ser. i. 22, ser. ii. 43, ser. iii. 28), which is explained as meaning that he was too tall to ride any horse with stirrups in the ordinary way, and therefore had a chain of gold slung across the crupper of his steed to support his ankles. That he bore the surname ‘Hir,’ i.e. the tall, is known from the pedigrees in Jesus Coll. MS. 20 (Cymrodor, viii. 87) and the poetry of Meilyr Brydydd (Myvyrian Archaiology, Denbigh edit. p. 140). Rowlands asserts, without authority, that he gave his name to Caer Rhun, the ancient Conovium (Mona Ant. ed. 1723, p. 148). In the late ‘History of Taliesin,’ printed in Lady Charlotte Guest's edition of the ‘Mabinogion,’ Rhun is represented as a gallant sent to try the virtue of Elphin's wife, an attempt in which he is baffled by the substitution of maid for mistress.
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhydderch, John

​RHYDDERCH, RODERICK, or ROGERS, JOHN (d. 1735), printer, was the son of Rhydderch Dafydd ap Gruffydd of Cwm Du, near Newcastle Emlyn. In 1708 he settled as a printer in Shrewsbury, and from that year until 1728 printed, according to Rowlands's ‘Cambrian Bibliography,’ eighteen books connected with Wales. He was himself an author, publishing translations of English religious tracts in 1716 and 1720, and ballads in 1717 and 1722. From 1716 until his death he edited a Welsh almanac, for which he occasionally wrote verse; there are poems by him also in ‘Carolau a Dyriau Duwiol,’ 1720, and in ‘Blodeugerdd Cymru,’ 1759. His most important work was, however, the ‘English and Welsh Dictionary’ published by him in 1725 (2nd edit. 1731, 3rd edit. 1737), which was the first undertaking of the kind. This was followed in 1728 by a Welsh grammar (in Welsh), abridged for the most part from that of Dr. John David Rhys [q. v.] Soon after this Rhydderch, as we learn from a letter he wrote to Lewis Morris [q. v.] in December 1729, gave up his business and moved to London. His last days were spent at Cattalhaiarn in the parish of Cemais, Montgomeryshire, where he died in November 1735.
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhodes, William Barnes

​RHODES, WILLIAM BARNES (1772–1826), dramatic writer, second son of Richard Rhodes of Leeds, and of Mercy, his wife, was born on Christmas day 1772. In early life he was a writer in an attorney's office, but about 1799 he obtained the post of clerk in the Bank of England. His ability and assiduity led to his promotion in 1823 to the office of a chief teller, which he held till his death, which took place at Bedford Street, Bedford Square, London, on 1 Nov. 1826. He left a widow, and a daughter was born posthumously.
Rhodes is chiefly known as the author of a long popular burlesque, ‘Bombastes Furioso,’ which was produced, anonymously, at the Haymarket on 7 Aug. 1810, when Mathews took the part of the King of Utopia and Liston that of Bombastes. It was first printed in Dublin in 1813, but was not published with the author's name until 1822. Since then numerous editions have been issued. Rhodes was also a collector of dramatic literature, and made large purchases at the Roxburghe sale in June 1812. His library was sold by Sotheby in 1825. He also wrote: 1. ‘The Satires of Juvenal,’ translated into English verse, 1801, 12mo. 2. ‘Epigrams,’ 1803, 12mo.
E. I. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhodri ab Owain

​RHODRI ab OWAIN (d. 1195), Welsh prince, was a son of Owain Gwynedd [q. v.] by his cousin Cristyn or Crisiant, daughter of Gronw ab Owain ab Edwin. On his father's death in 1170 he was one of many claimants for ​a share of Gwynedd, but whatever portion he secured was lost to him in 1174, when his elder brother, David, possessed himself of the whole region. In 1175 David imprisoned him; he succeeded, however, in escaping, and before the end of the year had driven his brother out of Anglesey and the adjacent districts, making the Conway the boundary between them. He now entered into an alliance with Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of South Wales, and married one of his daughters, a union against which Archbishop Baldwin in vain protested, on the score of consanguinity, when he visited Anglesey with Giraldus Cambrensis in 1188. In the interval between this visit and the transcription of the first edition of the Welsh ‘Itinerary’ of Giraldus (1191), Rhodri was dispossessed of all his territory by his nephews, the sons of Cynan ab Owain. In 1193 he was for a short time reinstated in Anglesey with the aid of Godred, king of Man, an episode afterwards remembered as ‘the Gaelic summer’ (Red Book of Hergest, Oxford edit. ii. 405), but before the end of the year he was again driven out by the sons of Cynan. In 1194, when Llywelyn ab Iorwerth and the sons of Cynan overthrew David, he appears to have taken his brother's side, and probably led the forces which were defeated by Llywelyn at Coed Aneu in Anglesey. As a result of his nephew's victory, he was left with a bare livelihood. He died in 1195. The ‘Myvyrian Archaiology’ contains one poem to Rhodri by Gwalchmai (2nd edit. p. 146), one by Elidyr Sais (p. 241), and four by Llywarch ap Llywelyn (pp. 201–3).
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhygyfarch

​RHYGYFARCH (1056–1099), wrongly called Rhyddmarch, and in Latin Ricemarchus, clerk of St. Davids, was the eldest son of Sulien, bishop of St. Davids from 1072 to 1078, and from 1080 to 1085. Born in 1056, he was trained by his father, who maintained a school of great reputation at St. Davids, and appears to have spent most of his life in that place and at Llan Badarn Fawr in Cardiganshire, the home of the family. He is the author of the oldest extant life of St. David, that in Cotton. MS. Vesp. A. xiv, printed in Rees's ‘Cambro-British Saints,’ pp. 117–44. MS. A. 4.20, at Trinity College, Dublin, a Latin psalter, was written for Rhygyfarch's use by his brother Ieuan: it contains some verses by him. According to ‘Brut y Tywysogion’ and ‘Brut y Saeson,’ he was the most learned Welshman of his time, and yet had received no instruction except from his father. He died in 1099, at the age of forty-three, leaving a son Sulien, who became a clerk of Llan Badarn Fawr, a teacher, and a peacemaker between Welsh and English, and died on 22 Sept. 1146. The only ancient authority which makes Rhygyfarch a bishop is MS. C. of ‘Annales Cambriæ;’ but even if the text of that manuscript is cor​rectly given in the Rolls edition, ‘episcopus’ is probably a mistake for ‘episcopi,’ to be taken with ‘Sulien.’ Sulien was no doubt followed directly by Wilfrid, and the conjectures of Haddan and Stubbs (Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, i. 301 n.) have no historical basis. The Gwentian ‘Brut y Tywysogion,’ which speaks of ‘Rhyddmarch [a form for which there is no other evidence] escob Dewi,’ is of no authority.
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhys Goch Eryri

​RHYS GOCH ERYRI, i.e. of Snowdonia (1310?–1400?), Welsh poet, was the son of Dafydd ab Iorwerth of Hafod garegog, near Bedd Gelert, a freeholder and descendant of Collwyn ap Tangno, who founded one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales. If the traditions are correct which assert that he sang in the presence of Edward of Carnarvon and also to Owain Glyndwr, he must have lived during the greater part of the fourteenth century. In the account given in the Iolo MSS. (p. 97) of the ‘three Eisteddfods of revival,’ Rhys is said to have attended the second, held about 1329 at the house of Llywelyn ap Gwilym of Dol Goch in Emlyn, and in a contest with Sion Cent to have composed the best ‘moliangerdd’ or laudatory poem, though beaten as regards the ‘wengerdd’ or religious ode. In all probability the poem printed in Iolo MSS. (pp. 307–10) is addressed by Rhys to this Llywelyn, whom he praises for his poetic skill and invites to North Wales. Another poem shows Rhys as the rival in love of his neighbour and fellow-bard, Dafydd Nanmor [q. v.] Seven of Rhys Goch's poems have been printed: viz. three in ‘Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru’ (2nd edit. pp. 124–131), two in the ‘Brython’ (iii. 451, iv. 307), one in the Iolo MSS. (pp. 307–10), and one in Sir John Wynn's ‘History of the Gwydir Family’ (ed. 1878, pp. 39, 40). A large number still remain unprinted in the Cymrodorion MSS. in the British Museum (Cymrodorion Transactions, 1822, i. 179–95). Rhys was buried at Bedd Gelert, and left a daughter Margaret, who married Ieuan ap Rhys.
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhys, Ioan Dafydd

Siôn Dafydd Rhys in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​RHYS, IOAN DAFYDD, or John David (1534–1609), Welsh grammarian, was born in 1534 at Llan Faethlu, Anglesey. His father, Dafydd Rhys, was, according to the traditional story (which is imperfectly corroborated), a son of Rhys Llwyd Brydydd of Glamorganshire, and came to the north as gardener to Sir William Gruffydd of Penrhyn, who married Jane Stradling of St. Donat's in that county. Dafydd married, it is said, one of the bride's attendants; on the death of both in a few years their son John was brought up at St. Donat's, and educated with the Stradlings. It is certain he was in December 1555 a student of Christ Church, Oxford, but left the university without graduating, and proceeded to Siena (Tuscany), where he took the degree of doctor of medicine. Appointed public moderator of the school of Pistoia, he published at Venice an Italian work on the Latin language, and at Padua a Latin treatise, ‘De Italicæ linguæ pronunciatione.’ After a long residence abroad he returned to England and practised as a physician, settling at Blaen Cwm Llwch, at the foot of the Brecknock Beacons. He had been urged, some years before making his home in Brecknockshire, by Sir Edward Stradling [q. v.] to publish a Welsh grammar, and in 1592 his ‘Cambrobrytannicæ Cymræcæve linguæ institutiones et rudimenta’ appeared in London. The Latin text (a large part of which has reference to Welsh prosody) is preceded by a dedication to Sir Edward, who bore the expense of publication, by Latin complimentary verses by Camden and John Stradling, a Latin address to the reader by Humphrey Prichard of Bangor, and Rhys's own Welsh preface. Wood asserts that Rhys died a papist, but Prichard calls him ‘sinceræ religionis propagandæ avidissimus,’ though the purpose attributed to him of issuing his grammar in order to aid the readers of the Welsh bible of 1588 seems to have been an afterthought of his friends. He introduced into his grammar a new orthography, which was followed by Myddelton (1593 and 1603) and Henry Perry (1595), but never won general acceptance. A manuscript translation by him of Aristotle's ‘Metaphysics’ into Welsh is said to have once existed in the library of Jesus College, Oxford. Rhys died in 1609, leaving a son Walter, who was vicar of Brecon from 1576 to 1621 (Jones, History of Breconshire, ii. 51).
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rhys, Morgan

​RHYS, MORGAN (1710?–1779), Welsh hymn-writer, was born about 1710 in the neighbourhood of Llandovery. At first one of Griffith Jones of Llan Ddowror's travelling schoolmasters, he afterwards kept school on his own account at Capel Isaac, near Llandeilo, living in a cottage on Cwm Gwenywdy farm, in the parish of Llan Fynydd. He early joined the Calvinistic methodists, and was a member and preacher of the Cilycwm Society. He died in August 1779, and was buried at Llan Fynydd.
He first appeared as a hymn-writer in 1760, when twenty-two hymns from his pen were published at Carmarthen. In 1764 a second edition of this collection appeared, under the title ‘Golwg o ben Nebo’ (‘A Prospect from the Summit of Nebo’); in 1773 a third followed, and in 1775 a fourth, all at Carmarthen. Further editions were ​published in 1808 (Carmarthen), 1831 (Merthyr), and 1841 (Aberystwyth). In 1767 another collection, entitled ‘Golwg ar ddull y byd hwn yn myned heibio’ (‘A Prospect of how the fashion of this world passeth away’), was printed at Carmarthen, while a third, issued in 1770 or 1771 from the same press, bore the title ‘Golwg ar y ddinas noddfa’ (‘A Prospect of the city of refuge’). In 1770 Rhys published an elegy on several prominent methodist divines (Carmarthen); Rowlands also mentions three collections of religious verse by him, which he assigns to 1774. Rhys was a facile composer, and many of his hymns are in constant use at the present day.
[Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry, by Rowlands; Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, by Ashton, pp. 365–8; Methodistiaeth Cymru, 1854, ii. 450; Sweet Singers of Wales, by Elvet Lewis, pp. 70–4.]
J. E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Kettle, Alice

Alice Kyteler in the ODNB.
​KETTLE or KYTELER, Dame ALICE (fl. 1324), reputed witch, lived in Kilkenny in the fourteenth century. Her relatives were wealthy. Robert le Kyteler was a trader with Flanders towards the close of the thirteenth century. She is frequently referred to in the history of the English Pale. According to Holinshed she was accused in 1324, by Richard de Lederede, bishop of Ossory, with two accomplices, Petronilla of Meath and Bassilla her daughter, of holding ‘nightlie conference with a spirit called Robert Artisson, to whome she sacrificed in the high waie nine red cocks and nine peacocks' eies.’ The accused persons abjured and did penance, but were afterwards found to have relapsed. One of the accomplices was burnt at Kilkenny, and at her death declared that Lady Kettle's son was an accomplice. He was imprisoned by the bishop for nine weeks, but delivered by Arnold le Powre, seneschal of Kilkenny (a relative of Lady Kettle's fourth husband). Lady Kettle's son then bribed le Powre to imprison the bishop. Lady Kettle was again cited to appear at Dublin before the Dean of St. Patrick's, but some of the nobility supported her, and got her over to England, where no more was heard of her. In her closet was found a sacramental wafer, with a print of the devil, and some ointment which converted a staff into a practicable steed. Wright gives Lady Kettle four husbands: 1. William Outlaw of Kilkenny, ‘banker.’ 2. Adam le Blound of Callan, whom she married about 1302. 3. Richard de Valle, whom she married about 1311; and 4. John le Poer or Powre, to whom she was married in 1324. She bore a son to William Outlaw, also called William. A ‘Narrative of the Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, prosecuted for sorcery in 1324 by Richard de Lederede, bishop of Ossory,’ in Latin, was edited by Thomas Wright for the Camden Society in 1843, from Harl. MS. 641, f. 187; a transcript is in Sloane MS. 4800.
[Wright's edit. of the Proceedings; Cal. of Carew MSS., Book of Howth (Rolls Ser.), pp. 147–148; Chartularies of St. Mary's Abbey Dublin (Rolls Ser.), ii. cxxxiii–v, 362–4; Holinshed's Chron. of Ireland, p. 69; Irish Eccles. Journ. (October 1843), ii. 261, where is another letter by James Heathorn Todd, D.D.]
B. H. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Keugh, Matthew

Mathew Keugh in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
​KEUGH, MATTHEW (1744?–1798), governor of Wexford, born of a protestant family in Ireland about 1744, rose by his ability during the American war from the position of private to that of ensign, being gazetted in the 60th or royal American regiment of foot on 31 Oct. 1763. On 14 July 1769 he was appointed lieutenant in the 45th regiment of foot (Ireland), from which he was transferred on 14 March 1772 to the 27th or Inniskilling regiment of foot (Ireland). On retiring from the army in 1774 (Army Lists) he went to live upon his property in the town of Wexford. He became a J.P., but was deprived of his commission in 1796 for his revolutionary sympathies. Upon the occupation of Wexford by the insurgents on 30 May 1798, Keugh was chosen by them military governor of the town. Though he endeavoured to protect such of the royalists as remained, he was powerless to prevent the piking on the bridge on 20 June of 97 out of the 260 prisoners who were charged with having wronged the peasantry. When the capture of Wexford by the military was inevitable, Keugh formally placed the government in the hands of the loyalist Lord Kingsborough, hoping thereby to save the town from massacre and plunder. He was ultimately brought to a drumhead trial. Lord Kingsborough, Colonel Le Hunte, and other witnesses of good social standing stated that Keugh had acted on all occasions with singular humanity, and had tried to prevent effusion of blood, and that they owed their lives to his personal interference. He was nevertheless executed on the bridge on 25 June 1798; his body was thrown into the river, and his head placed on the courthouse. In private life Keugh was esteemed for his many amiable qualities and accomplishments. He married an aunt of the wife of Sir Jonah Barrington.
[Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography; Musgrave's Hist. of the Irish Rebellions; Madden's United Irishmen; Lecky's England in the Eighteenth Century, vol. viii.; Barrington's Personal Sketches.]
G. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Spurgin, John

​SPURGIN, JOHN (1797–1866), medical writer, son of William Spurgin, farmer, was born at Orplands, Bradwell, Essex, in 1797, and educated at Chelmsford grammar school from 1804 to 1813, and at St. Thomas's Hospital (1813–15). He matriculated at Cambridge from Caius College on 3 July 1814, and was scholar from Michaelmas 1815 to Michaelmas 1816. He afterwards proceeded to Edinburgh, and, returning to Cambridge, graduated M.B. 1820, and M.D. 1825. He was admitted an inceptor candidate of the College of Physicians on 30 Sept. 1822, a candidate 30 Sept. 1825, and a fellow on 30 Sept. 1826. He was censor in 1829, and conciliarius in 1851–3 and 1862–4. He delivered the Harveian oration in 1851 and the college lectures on materia medica in 1852. Spurgin was physician to the Foundling Hospital from 1835 to his death, and about 1837 became physician to St. Mark's Hospital.
He enjoyed an extensive private practice, first at 38 Guildford Street, Russell Square, from 1820, and at 17 Great Cumberland Street, Hyde Park, from 1853 to his death. He was the inventor and patentee of an ‘endless ladder,’ an appurtenance of the scaffolding in building, which came into general use, and he also brought out the thermoscope for taking the temperature of the body. ‘Dr. Spurgin's Condiment’ was a solution of common salt and alkaline phosphates, which he introduced as a digestive and a purifier of the blood.
After an illness, brought on by injuries received from thieves in Bishopsgate Street on 20 Sept. 1865, he died at 17 Great Cumberland Street, Hyde Park, London, on 20 March 1866. His portrait is in the Royal College of Physicians. His widow, Rose, died on 30 Nov. 1882.
Spurgin had from early years studied the works of Swedenborg, whose views he gradually adopted. He gave an account of his mental experiences in a lecture read before the Swedenborg Association on 24 Feb. 1847, and published in the same year as ‘A Narrative of Personal Experience concerning Principles advocated by the Swedenborg Association.’ He also projected an edition of Swedenborg's philosophical works, and made some progress with their translation, but the only volume published was ‘The Introduction to an Anatomical, Physical, and Philosophical Investigation of the Economy of the Animal Kingdom,’ with an ‘address to the reader’ by Medicus Cantabrigiensis, 1861.
Spurgin's other works were:
* ‘Six Lectures on Materia Medica and its Relation to the Animal Economy,’ 1853.
* ‘The Physician for All, his Philosophy, Experience, and his Mission,’ 1855; second curriculum, 1857, dedicated to Lord Palmerston.
* ‘Drainage of Cities, reserving their sewage for use and keeping their rivers clean,’ 1858.
* ‘The Cure of the Sick not Allopathy nor Homœopathy, but Judgment,’ 1860.
[Munk's Coll. of Phys. 1878, iii. 264; Medical Times, March 1866, pp. 351–2; Spurgin's Narrative, 1847, pp. 8, 9, et seq.; information from Dr. Venn of Caius Coll. Cambridge.]
G. C. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sprott, George

​SPROTT, GEORGE (d. 1608), conspirator and alleged forger, practised as a notary at Eyemouth before and after 1600. About that year he seems to have made the acquaintance of Robert Logan of Restalrig [q. v.] Logan died in 1606. Two years later Sprott let fall some incautious expressions to the effect that he had proofs that Logan had conspired with John Ruthven, third earl of Gowrie [q. v.], to murder James VI while on a visit to Gowrie House in 1600. Sprott was at once arrested on a charge of having concealed this knowledge and of being therefore an abettor of the crime. Five letters incriminating Logan were produced by Sprott, of which four were alleged to have been written by Logan to the Earl of Gowrie in July 1600, and one was said to have been addressed by Logan to his agent Bower. Sprott was examined nine times by the council, and his depositions (of which the official copies belong to the Earl of Haddington) are self-contradictory. In effect he admitted that he had forged three of the letters to Gowrie, counterfeiting Logan's handwriting; that he had stolen the fourth letter to Gowrie, which was genuinely written by Logan; and that he had written the letter to Bower from Logan's dictation, and then copied it in a forged handwriting. All the five letters have been accepted as genuine by modern historians in ignorance of the existence of Sprott's confessions.
On 12 Aug. Sprott was tried by a parliamentary committee, was found guilty, not without some hesitation, of complicity in the conspiracy, and was duly executed (cf. also Burton, History, 2nd edit. v. 416–20). The Earl of Dunbar presided in state over the last scene, and is said to have promised to provide for Sprott's wife and family. Calderwood the historian suggested that the attention paid to Sprott upon the scaffold was due to a fear that he should reveal too much (Historie of the Kirk of Scotland, ed. Wodrow, vi. 779). He adds, ‘This notar could counterfoote anie mans handwritt vivelie, so that no man who knew Restalrig's [i.e. Logan's] handwritt could discerne it to be counterfooted.’
J. A-n.