Powell, Vavasor

▪ Welsh preacher

born 1617, Knucklas, Radnorshire, Wales

died Oct. 27, 1670, London

      Welsh preacher and Fifth Monarchist during the English Civil Wars and Commonwealth.

      Educated at Jesus College, Oxford, he came under the influence of Walter Cradock and adopted radical Puritan views. When the Civil Wars broke out in 1642, he left eastern Wales, where he had been an evangelist and schoolmaster, and made for London. Upon the securing of Royalist Wales by the Parliamentary forces, he returned to Wales in 1646 as a missionary at the request of Parliament. The growth of Powell's reputation is attested by his sermons before the Mayor of London (1649) and the House of Commons (1650). In 1650 Parliament appointed a commission “for the better propagation and preaching of the gospel in Wales,” and Powell acted as a principal adviser for the commission. For three years he was actively employed in removing from their parishes those Welsh ministers he regarded as incompetent, replacing them with a band of itinerant Puritan evangelists led by himself. He was also influential in selecting Welsh representatives to sit in the Barebones Parliament (1653). But Powell soon afterwards denounced Cromwell (Cromwell, Oliver)'s acceptance of the office of lord protector, and he was briefly imprisoned and was interrogated by the Council of State.

      Returning to Wales in 1655, he continued his attacks on Cromwell, especially by sponsoring the petition “A Word for God Against Wickedness in High Places.” At the Restoration of Charles II, Powell was arrested for his preaching, and, having refused to take the oath of allegiance to the monarchy, he languished in prison from 1661 to 1667. Arrested again in 1668 (for illegal preaching), he died in London's Fleet Prison two years later.

* * *