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BISHOP LEWIS BAYLY AND THE WYNNS OF GWYDIR, 1616-271 IN a penetrating study of Bishop Lewis Bayly of Bangor, Professor A. H. Dodd observed that it was 'a tragedy that a man of such force of character should, in his own diocese, have squandered his energy so prodigally on barren squabbles' with powerful laymen and clergy alike at a time when the impact of the religious changes of an earlier age was making serious inroads into ecclesiastical property.2 Similar in many respects was the career of William Morgan, bishop of St. Asaph. He, too, involved himself with the ambitions of lay gentry to the point that he died before any reconciliation could take place between him and his vigorous enemy, Sir John Wynn of Gwydir. The urgency of having to save what vestiges of church land that remained from falling into grasping lay hands seemed constantly to have pre-occupied both bishops, and although Bayly appeared to conceal ulterior motives of a more worldly nature than did Morgan, both bishops were involved essentially in what constituted the most provocative issue facing prelates at the turn of the sixteenth century-the further prevention and curbing of lay impropriation of church lands. Bayly, like Morgan, had a number of adversaries, not the least being Sir John Wynn who, in his more enterprising days, insisted on maintaining his hold on a complex of lands which had already fallen into his hands. His grasp on almost the entire commote of Nantconwy was firm, either as direct landlord or as lessee. His power had spread westwards into Eifionydd and the parish of Beddgelert, and eastwards to the confines of Denbighshire and to a few enclaves including the parish of Llysfaen and the parsonage of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, the one forming part of Caernarvonshire and the other part of the bishopric of Bangor.3 His hold on these areas was I This article was written as a corollary to a study published by the author of the encounters of Bishop William Morgan of St. Asaph with Sir John of Gwydir, 'Bishop William Morgan's dispute with John Wynn of Gwydir', Jnl. Hist. Soc. Church in Wales XXII (1972), 49-78. The present study is not intended as a strict comparison between the two bishops, but some aspects do indicate distinct phases in the career of Wynn. A. H. Dodd, 'Bishop Lewes Bayly, c. 1575-1631', Trans. Caernarvonshire Hist. Soc., 1967, pp. 13-36; E. A. B. Barnard, 'Lewis Bayly, Bishop of Bangor and Thomas Bayly his son', Trans. Honourable Soc. of Cymmrodorion, 1928-29, pp. 99-132. For the general background, see C. Hill, Economic Problems of the Church (1956), ch. II. 3 D. R. Thomas, A History of the Diocese of St. Asaph (1874), pp. 403-4, 417-21. In the Taxatio of 1291 the deanery is returned in the diocese of Bangor and taxed under two archdeaconries, Merioneth and Bangor respectively. In the Valor Ecclesiasticus, the returns are combined under the single 'Decanetus de Diffryn Cloid et Kimerch', and remained so until 1859. In 1386 Bishop John Swaffham obtained for the cathedral the benefices of Llanynys and Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd in order to maintain four chaplains and for the repair of the church, Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1385-89, pp. 189-90; Browne Willis, Survey of the Cathedral Church of Bangor (1721), pp. 223-24; Thomas, op. cit., pp. 403-4, 417-18; M. I. Clarke, Bangor Cathedral (1969), pp. 13, 42.