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THE STATUTES OF WALES
[A.D. 1562

Dominion and Country of Wales, being no small Part of this Realm, who therefore are utterly destituted of God's Holy Word, and do remain in the like or rather more Darkness and Ignorance than they were, in the Time of Papistry": Be it therefore enacted by the Queen our Sovereign Lady, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the Bishops of Hereford, Saint David's, Asaph, Bangor and Landaff, and their Successors, shall take such Order amongst themselves for the Souls Health of the Flocks committed to their Charge within Wales, that the whole Bible, containing the New Testament and the Old, with the Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, as is now used within this Realm in English, to be truly and exactly translated into the British or Welsh Tongue; and that the same so translated, being by them viewed, perused and allowed, be imprinted to such Number at the least, that one of either Sort may be had for every Cathedral, Collegiate and Parish Church, and Chapel of Ease, in such Places and Countries of every the said Dioceses where that Tongue is commonly spoken or used, before the First Day of March, Anno Dom. One thousand five hundred sixty six. And that from that Day forth, the whole Divine Service shall be used and said by the Curates and Ministers throughout all the said Dioceses where the Welsh Tongue is commonly used, in the said British or Welsh Tongue, in such Manner and Form as is now used in the English Tongue, and differing nothing in any Order or Form from the English Book: for the which Books so imprinted, the Parishioners of every of the said Parishes shall pay the one Half or Moiety, and the Parson and Vicar of every of the said Parishes (where both be) or else the one of them where there is but one, shall pay the other Half or Moiety; the Prices of which Books shall be appointed and rated by the said Bishops and their Successors, or by Three of them at the least; the which Things if the said Bishops or their Successors neglect to do, then every one of them shall forfeit to the Queen's Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, the Sum of Forty Pounds, to be levied of their Goods and Chattels.

2. Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid. That every Minister and Curate within the Dioceses before said, where the Welsh Tongue is commonly used, shall from the Feast of Whitsuntide next ensuing until the aforesaid Day of March, which shall be