Welsh Journals

ap Gwylym Vighan & to the doght'es of the sayd Gruff' prothe: And to all here other Kyn & ffrends for this mat' schall no bodely harme be done by hem ne by here sturyng and that the Sone of David Vigh'n & Maude schall nev' take sute ne vex the sayd David ap M'ed' Glays ne non other p'son for the deth of the seid Gruff' prothe: We awarde also that the seid Maude Jankyn ap John ap Gwylym Vighan the doghteres of the seid Gruff' prothe and the sones of David Vighan ap Gruff' prothe schall bere the pees to the seid David ap M'ed' Glays hys fad' Thomas Glays harry Glays John lln Jankyn Robory & Ieuan ap David ap Rethergh and that they ne non of her frendes by her excitation do no bodyly harme to the seid p'tyes ne to none of her Kyn ne ffryndes for the seid cause In witness wherof to thys award indentid trip'tit of the whiche the on p'te levith wt Jankyn ap John ap Gwylym Vighan & Maude late the wyff of David Vighan ap Griff' proth' We have put owre selys to the other p'te of the same awarde levyng Wt David ap M'ed' Glays & M'ed Glays we have put to owre seales and to the thridde p'te of the same award remaynyng in owre handes the seid Jankyn ap John ap Gwylym Vighan Maude David Glays & M'ed' Glays have put to her seales Geven the tyesday next afore the fest of the exaltacion of the seid Crosse the yer of the Regne of Kyng Harry the VIth aft' the conquest the xxthe [i.e. September 1441]'. The Glays family appears to have been already well established in the neigh- bourhood and town of Aberystwyth in the fifteenth century, judging by the numer- ous references to them and their property. One such reference in a deed (No. 879) dated 4 August 1489 mentions David ap Meredith Glays,3a one of the parties to the above bond, who, it is said, during his lifetime gave a burgage 'for his soul to the Church of the Blessed Mary, on the sea shore'. Still another local family of some import during the fifteenth and early six- teenth centuries was that of John Voya ap Siencyn ap John ap Gwilym Fychan, whose signature often appears among the witnesses to various legal documents of the period. His son, William ap John Voya, appears to have been much con- cerned about the material welfare of the church, for according to the evidence given by Griffith Lloyd ap Howel ap Rees of Geneu'r Glyn, on 19 April 1582 before the Queen's Commissioners appointed by the High Court of Exchequer to enquire into certain matters concerning 'the ladies mylne' within the town of Aberystwyth, 'the said mylne was made and buylded by the meanes of William ap John Voya and thother inhabitants of the said towne for the maynten[a]nce of or Ladies Service wthin the said churche or chappell of the said towne of Aberistowyth' (No. 726). His last will and testament (probate of which was granted on 23 January 1540) shows him to have been a man of not inconsiderable wealth, an ardent church- man, and, unless one misconstrues the last clause but one, a member of the new Church of England who yet kept faith with the old: In the name of God amen. The seconde day of January in the yere of our Lorde Jesu Christe after the cownte and custom of the Churche of England xxxixe I Willm John Voya in my hole mynde thowgh seeke