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| John Jenkins (Ifor Ceri) | |
|---|---|
| Name | John Jenkins (Ifor Ceri) |
| Birth date | 1770 |
| Death date | 1829 |
| Occupation | Clergyman, Antiquarian, Bard |
| Nationality | Welsh |
John Jenkins (Ifor Ceri) was a Welsh Anglican priest, antiquarian, and bard noted for his preservation of Welsh manuscripts and promotion of bardic culture. Active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he connected ecclesiastical networks with antiquarian circles, influencing figures across Welsh cultural revival, antiquarian study, and literary societies. Jenkins's activities intersected with contemporaries in London, Cardiff, and the Welsh counties, contributing to the transmission of medieval Welsh material to later antiquaries and poets.
John Jenkins was born in 1770 in Melin-y-Groes near Newtown, Powys and received early schooling influenced by local parish structures and notable families of Montgomeryshire. He matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, aligning him with a tradition that included alumni such as Griffith Jones and John Davies. At Oxford he encountered scholars engaged with Welsh literature, Anglicanism, and the broader antiquarian movement associated with institutions like the Royal Society of Antiquaries and contacts in London and Oxford University Press circles.
Jenkins was ordained in the Church of England and served curacies and incumbencies in parishes across Radnorshire and Cardiganshire, ultimately being closely associated with the parish of Llanfair Clydogau and the chapel at Ifor Ceri. His clerical duties brought him into regular contact with bishops of the Diocese of St Davids and clergy figures linked to Bangor and St Asaph. Jenkins's parochial work overlapped with pastoral figures who engaged in antiquarian collection, such as parish priests connected to Richard Davies (bishop)-era manuscript traditions and later correspondents among antiquaries like Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg) and Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc).
Jenkins was an active collector and preserver of Welsh manuscripts, working within networks that included Iolo Morganwg, John Evans (antiquary), and William Owen Pughe. He rescued and copied medieval texts such as poems and genealogies associated with families recorded in Brut y Tywysogion and bardic tracts found in collections resembling those at National Library of Wales and private libraries in Llanbedr. Jenkins corresponded with antiquaries in London and provincial centers like Aberystwyth and Caernarfon, facilitating transmission of material to editors of major compendia, including those who compiled editions of works by Dafydd ap Gwilym, Taliesin, and other medieval poets. His efforts paralleled the manuscript salvaging activities of contemporaries such as Owen Jones (antiquary) and collectors associated with the Welsh Manuscripts Society.
Under the bardic name Ifor Ceri, Jenkins participated in Eisteddfodic culture, engaging with figures like Iolo Morganwg, Thomas Burgess (bishop), and John Elias. He composed Welsh-language verse and delivered bardic addresses that connected medieval models, such as compositions attributed to Taliesin and Llywarch Hen, with contemporary pastoral and ecclesiastical themes. Jenkins promoted the revival of regional Eisteddfodau in counties including Radnorshire and Merionethshire, collaborating with organizers who later influenced national assemblies like those at Llanrwst and Abergavenny. His bardic activity was part of a broader literary resurgence involving editors and poets such as William Owen Pughe, John Jones (Tegid), and Robert Williams (Robert ap Gwilym Ddu).
Jenkins married into families connected to the landed gentry of Montgomeryshire and maintained friendships with clerical antiquaries and Welsh Revival figures, corresponding with Charles Williams (antiquary) and soliciting support from patrons in Cardiff and Brecon. His manuscripts and transcriptions passed into the hands of later custodians, influencing scholars like Sir John Rhŷs and editors involved with the Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales. Jenkins's blending of clerical responsibilities, antiquarian scholarship, and bardic practice anticipated later intersections of nationalism and cultural preservation seen in the works of Cymru Fydd proponents and Victorian antiquaries.
Jenkins is commemorated by local plaques and by the continued use of the bardic name Ifor Ceri in Welsh cultural memory, referenced in studies held at the National Library of Wales and in catalogues of the British Library manuscript collections. Regional Eisteddfodau and historical societies in Powys and Ceredigion cite his role in manuscript preservation, and ecclesiastical histories of the Diocese of St Davids note his parish ministry. Modern scholarship on Welsh antiquarianism and bardic revival—heavily represented in university archives at Aberystwyth University and Cardiff University—regularly acknowledges Jenkins among the vital intermediaries between medieval sources and 19th-century editors.
Category:1770 births Category:1829 deaths Category:Welsh Anglican priests Category:Welsh antiquarians Category:Welsh poets