Sir John Prise (also Prys, Price; ) (1501/2 â 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.
John was the son of Rhys ab Gwilym by Gwenllian, daughter of Howel Madoc, born between 12 October 1501 and 11 October 1502, in Brecon. He was educated at Oxford, practiced in the Court of Arches and subsequently graduated BCL at Cambridge in 1535/6. By 1530 he was a servant of Thomas Cromwell, to whom he would later be related by marriage.
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.
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: <br>six sons, including:
five daughters:
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. 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.
This may not have been Prise's first marriage, as his will refers to a married daughter, Elizabeth, who was older than any of the children he had with Joan.
In December 1534 Prise was granted the registrarship of the bishopric of Salisbury. 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 1537âÂÂ38 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. 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.
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.
When the Pilgrimage of Grace was quelled, he assisted in trying the rebels. For his services he received in 1537âÂÂ38 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. 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.
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.
He died on 15 October 1555 at St Guthlac's Priory, survived by his widow and ten of their children. In his will, dated 6 October 1555, he bequeathed his soul to God, to â³owre blessede ladie Sainte Marye And to all the blessed cumpanie of heavinâ³ and requested prayers on its behalf. He made numerous bequests, including sums of money for his daughtersâ² marriages, and asked to be buried in Hereford Cathedral.
Prise was encouraged as a scholar by the patronage of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and became a collector of manuscripts. He wrote:
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).