Llewelyn II., Ab Gruffydd (d. 1282), prince of North Wales, succeeded his uncle David in 1246, but was compelled by Henry III. to confine himself to Snowdon and Anglesey. In 1254 Henry granted Prince Edward the royal lands in Wales. The steady encroachment of royal officers on Llewelyn’s land began immediately, and in 1256 Llewelyn declared war. The Barons’ War engaged all the forces of England, and he was able to make himself lord of south and north Wales. Llewelyn also assisted the barons. By the treaty of Shrewsbury (1265) he was recognized as overlord of Wales; and in return Simon de Montfort was supplied with Welsh troops for his last campaign. Llewelyn refused to do homage to Edward I., who therefore attacked him in 1276. He was besieged in the Snowdon mountains till hunger made him surrender, and conclude the humiliating treaty of Conway (1277). He was released, but in 1282 he revolted again, and was killed in a skirmish with the Mortimers, near Builth in central Wales.
See C. Bémont, Simon de Montfort (Paris, 1884); T. F. Tout in the Political History of England, iii. (1905); J. E. Morris in The Welsh Wars of Edward I. (1901).
LLORENTE, JUAN ANTONIO (1756-1823), Spanish historian, was born on the 30th of March 1756 at Rincon de Soto in Aragon. He studied at the university of Saragossa, and, having been ordained priest, became vicar-general to the bishop of Calahorra in 1782. In 1785 he became commissary of the Holy Office at Logroño, and in 1789 its general secretary at Madrid. In the crisis of 1808 Llorente identified himself with the Bonapartists, and was engaged for a few years in superintending the execution of the decree for the suppression of the monastic orders, and in examining the archives of the Inquisition. On the return of King Ferdinand VII. to Spain in 1814 he withdrew to France, where he published his great work, Historia critica de la inquisicion de España (Paris, 1815-1817). Translated into English, French, German, Dutch and Italian, it attracted much attention in Europe, and involved its author in considerable persecution, which, on the publication of his Portraits politiques des papes in 1822, culminated in a peremptory order to quit France. He died at Madrid on the 5th of February 1823. Both the personal character and the literary accuracy of Llorente have been assailed, but although he was not an exact historian there is no doubt that he made an honest use of documents relating to the Inquisition which are no longer extant.
The English translation of the Historia (London, 1826) is abridged. Llorente also wrote Memorias para la historia de la revolucion española (Paris, 1814-1816), translated into French (Paris, 1815-1819); Noticias historicas sobre las tres provincias vacongadas (Madrid, 1806-1808); an autobiography, Noticia biografica (Paris, 1818), and other works.
LLOYD, EDWARD (1845- ), English tenor vocalist, was born in London on the 7th of March 1845, his father, Richard Lloyd, being vicar choralist at Westminster Abbey. From 1852 to 1860 he sang in the abbey choir, and was thoroughly trained in music, eventually becoming solo tenor at the Chapel Royal. He began singing at concerts in 1867, and in 1871 appeared at the Gloucester Musical Festival. His fine evenly-produced voice and pure style at once brought him into notice, and he gradually took the place of Sims Reeves as the leading English tenor of the day, his singing of classical music, and especially of Handel, being particularly admired. At the Handel Festivals after 1888 he was the principal tenor, and even in the vast auditorium at the Crystal Palace he triumphed over acoustic difficulties. In 1888, 1890 and 1892 he paid successful visits to the United States; but by degrees he appeared less frequently in public, and in 1900 he formally retired from the platform.
LLOYD, WILLIAM (1627-1717), English divine, successively bishop of St Asaph, of Lichfield and Coventry, and of Worcester, was born at Tilehurst, Berkshire, in 1627, and was educated at Oriel and Jesus Colleges, Oxford. He graduated M.A. in 1646. In 1663 he was prebendary of Ripon, in 1667 prebendary of Salisbury, in 1668 archdeacon of Merioneth, in 1672 dean of Bangor and prebendary of St Paul’s, London, in 1680 bishop of St Asaph, in 1689 lord-almoner, in 1692 bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, and in 1699 bishop of Worcester. Lloyd was an indefatigable opponent of the Roman Catholic tendencies of James II., and was one of the seven bishops who for refusing to have the Declaration of Indulgence read in his diocese was charged with publishing a seditious libel against the king and acquitted (1688). He engaged Gilbert Burnet to write The History of the Reformation of the Church of England and provided him with much material. He was a good scholar and a keen student of biblical apocalyptic literature and himself “prophesied” to Queen Anne, Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, William Whiston, and John Evelyn the diarist. Lloyd was a stanch supporter of the revolution. His chief publication was An Historical Account of Church Government as it was in Great Britain and Ireland when they first received the Christian Religion (London, 1684, reprinted Oxford, 1842). He died at Hartlebury castle on the 30th of August 1717.