Morgan Godwin

Morgan Godwin (1602/1603-1645) was an English priest in the first half of the 17th century.^[1] He was born in 1602 or 1603.^[2]

Early life and education

Godwin was educated at Christ Church, Oxford.^[3] Both his father Francis Godwin (1562-1633) and his grandfather Thomas Godwin were Church of England bishops, Thomas of Bath and Wells and Francis of Llandaff and then Hereford.^[4][5] Morgan Godwin's mother was the daughter of Dr. John Wolton, bishop of Exeter.^[5]

Career

Morgan Godwin held livings at Bicknor and Lydney. He was Archdeacon of Shropshire from 1631 until his death in 1645.^[6] He was also a prebendary at Hereford Cathedral. Godwin was a committed Royalist who had once been Charles I’s personal priest.^[4]

Godwin translated his father's book Rerum Anglicarum Henrico VIII, Edwardo VI, et Maria regnantibus annales into English during his father's lifetime.^[7]

Legacy

The Morgan Godwin baptised at Bicknor on 2 December 1640, who became a priest in Virginia, and argued for the conversion of African slaves and native Americans to Christianity, was his son.^{[8][9][4][10]}

References

1. "Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ from the First Erection Thereof to this Present Year 1715" p120: London; J.Nutt; 1716
2. "Godwin, Morgan, 1602 or 3-1645 | The Online Books Page". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
3. 569–599 Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714, Gilpin-Greenhaugh
4. "Morgan Godwyn – Trade Preferred Before Religion (1685) | Slavery Law & Power in Early America and the British Empire". blog.umd.edu. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
5. Cooper, Thompson (1890). "Godwin, Francis" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 22. pp. 56–58.
6. Horn, Joyce M. (2003), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857, vol. 10, pp. 12–14
7. "Rerum Anglicarum Henrico VIII, Edwardo VI, et Maria regnantibus annales. English, by Francis Godwin et al. | The Online Books Page". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
8. Goodwin, Gordon (1890). "Godwin, Morgan" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 22. p. 62.
9. "Godwin, Morgan". The Episcopal Church. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
10. Douglass, Frederick (1894). "Lessons of the Hour". Two hundred and twenty years ago, the negro was made the subject of a religious problem, one which gave our white forefathers much perplexity and annoyance. At that time the problem was in respect of what relation a negro would sustain to the Christian Church, whether he was a fit subject for baptism, and Dr. Godwin, a celebrated divine of his time, and one far in advance of his brethren, was at the pains of writing a book of two hundred pages, or more, containing an elaborate argument to prove that if was not a sin in the sight of God to baptize a negro.