Writing Welsh History

Writing Welsh History

Author: Huw Pryce

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-04-07

Total Pages: 507

ISBN-13: 0192692321

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Writing Welsh History is the first book to explore how the history of Wales and the Welsh has been written over the past fifteen hundred years. By analysing and contextualizing a wide range of historical writing, from Gildas in the sixth century to recent global approaches, it opens new perspectives both on the history of Wales and on understandings of Wales and the Welsh - and thus on the use of the past to articulate national and other identities. The study's broad chronological scope serves to highlight important continuities in interpretations of Welsh history. One enduring preoccupation is Wales's place in Britain. Down to the twentieth century it was widely held that the Welsh were an ancient people descended from the original inhabitants of Britain whose history in its fullest sense ended with Edward I's conquest of Wales in 1282-4, their history thereafter being regarded as an attenuated appendix. However, Huw Pryce shows that such master narratives, based on medieval sources and focused primarily on the period down to 1282, were part of a much larger and more varied historiographical landscape. Over the past century the thematic and chronological range of Welsh history writing has expanded significantly, notably in the unprecedented attention given to the modern period, reflecting broader trends in an increasingly internationalized historical profession as well as the influence of social, economic, and political developments in Wales and elsewhere.


The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr

The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr

Author: R. R. Davies

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 1997-02-20

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0191656461

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Owain Glyn Dwr is arguably the most famous figure in the history of Wales. His revolt (1400-1409) was the last major Welsh rebellion against English rule. It established a measure of unity such as Wales had never previously experienced and generated a remarkable vision of Wales as an independent country with its own native prince, its own church, and its own universities. In the event, Owain's rebellion was defeated or, perhaps more correctly, burnt itself out. But Owain himself was not captured; and soon after his death he became a legendary hero among the Welsh people. In more recent times he has come to be regarded as the father of modern Welsh nationalism. Written by one of Britain's leading medieval historians, this book will appeal to those who are fascinated by national heroes in all periods. It is also of particular interest to those who are intrigued by this most famous movement in the history of Wales, and by the remarkable man who led the rebellion.


The North Atlantic Frontier of Medieval Europe

The North Atlantic Frontier of Medieval Europe

Author: James Muldoon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-05-15

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1351884867

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Discussion of medieval European expansion tends to focus on expansion eastward and the crusades. The selection of studies reprinted here, however, focuses on the other end of Eurasia, where dwelled the warlike Celts, and beyond whom lay the north seas and the awesome Atlantic Ocean, formidable obstacles to expansion westward. This volume looks first at the legacy of the Viking expansion which had briefly created a network stretching across the sea from Britain and Ireland to North America, and had demonstrated that the Atlantic could be crossed and land reached. The next sections deal with the English expansion in the western and northern British Isles. In the 12th century the Normans began the process of subjugating the Celts, thus inaugurating for the English an experience which was to prove crucial when colonizing the Americas in the 17th century. Medieval Ireland in particular served as a laboratory for the development of imperial institutions, attitudes, and ideologies that shaped the creation of the British Empire and served as a staging area for further expansion westward.