Encyclopaedia

HEN BERSONIAID LLENGAR, YR (lit. ‘The old literary clerics’)

A group of patriotic (and generally anti-Methodist) Anglican clergymen who came together in the early 19th century to defend Welsh culture. They established the Cambrian Societies (which held important regional eisteddfodau), the periodical Y Gwyliedydd (1822-37), the Welsh Manuscripts Society (1837), St David’s College, Lampeter (1827; see University of Wales, Lampeter) and Llandovery College (1847). Although they made a valuable contribution to Welsh life, their influence was eventually replaced by that of Nonconformists ministers. R.T. Jenkins coined the phrase.