Medieval Wales c.1050-1332

Medieval Wales c.1050-1332 PDF

Author: David Stephenson

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2019-03-15

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1786833875

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After outlining conventional accounts of Wales in the High Middle Ages, this book moves to more radical approaches to its subject. Rather than discussing the emergence of the March of Wales from the usual perspective of the ‘intrusive’ marcher lords, for instance, it is considered from a Welsh standpoint explaining the lure of the March to Welsh princes and its contribution to the fall of the native principality of Wales. Analysis of the achievements of the princes of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries focuses on the paradoxical process by which increasingly sophisticated political structures and a changing political culture supported an autonomous native principality, but also facilitated eventual assimilation of much of Wales into an English ‘empire’. The Edwardian conquest is examined and it is argued that, alongside the resultant hardship and oppression suffered by many, the rising class of Welsh administrators and community leaders who were essential to the governance of Wales enjoyed an age of opportunity. This is a book that introduces the reader to the celebrated and the less well-known men and women who shaped medieval Wales.

Urban Culture in Medieval Wales

Urban Culture in Medieval Wales PDF

Author: Helen Fulton

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2012-05-15

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0708323529

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This collection of twelve essays describes aspects of town life in medieval Wales, from the way people lived and worked to how they spent their leisure time. Drawing on evidence from historical records, archaeology and literature, twelve leading scholars outline the diversity of town life and urban identity in medieval Wales. While urban histories of Wales have charted the economic growth of towns in post-Norman Wales, much less has been written about the nature of urban culture in Wales. This book fills in some of the gaps about how people lived in towns and the kinds of cultural experience which helped to construct a Welsh urban identity.

Reading Ovid in Medieval Wales

Reading Ovid in Medieval Wales PDF

Author: Paul Russell

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 9780814213223

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Reading Ovid in Medieval Wales provides the first complete edition and discussion of the earliest surviving fragment of Ovid's Ars amatoria, or The Art of Love, glossed mainly in Latin but also in Old Welsh. This study discusses the significance of the manuscript for classical studies and how it was absorbed into the classical Ovidian tradition.

History and Identity in Early Medieval Wales

History and Identity in Early Medieval Wales PDF

Author: Rebecca Thomas

Publisher: Boydell & Brewer

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1843846276

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Crucial texts from ninth- and tenth-century Wales analysed to show their key role in identify formation. WINNER OF THE FRANCIS JONES PRIZE 2022 Early medieval writers viewed the world as divided into gentes ("peoples"). These were groups that could be differentiated from each other according to certain characteristics - by the language they spoke or the territory they inhabited, for example. The same writers played a key role in deciding which characteristics were important and using these to construct ethnic identities. This book explores this process of identity construction in texts from early medieval Wales, focusing primarily on the early ninth-century Latin history of the Britons (Historia Brittonum), the biography of Alfred the Great composed by the Welsh scholar Asser in 893, and the tenth-century vernacular poem Armes Prydein Vawr ("The Great Prophecy of Britain"). It examines how these writers set about distinguishing between the Welsh and the other gentes inhabiting the island of Britain through the use of names, attention to linguistic difference, and the writing of history and origin legends. Crucially important was the identity of the Welsh as Britons, the rightful inhabitants of the entirety of Britain; its significance and durability are investigated, alongside its interaction with the emergence of an identity focused on the geographical unit of Wales.

Land, People and Power in Early Medieval Wales

Land, People and Power in Early Medieval Wales PDF

Author: Rhiannon Comeau

Publisher:

Published: 2020-11-26

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 9781407357126

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This study examines the structure of the early medieval Welsh landscape. Using a cantref (hundred) in south-west Wales as a case study, it draws on a multidisciplinary, comparative analysis to overcome the limits imposed by restricted material culture survival and limited written sources. It examines the patterns of power and habitual activity that defined spaces and structured lives, and considers the temporal relationships, both seasonal and longue durée, that shaped them. Four key findings are presented. Firstly, that key areas of early medieval life - agriculture, tribute-payment, legal processes and hunting - were structured by a longstanding seasonal patterning that is preserved in twelfth- and thirteenth-century Welsh law, church and well dedications and fair dates. Secondly it presents, at cantref level, the first systematic survey of assembly site evidence in Wales, and sets it in comparative context. Thirdly, it demonstrates that, though poor material culture preservation and limited written records have hitherto restricted identification and characterisation of key locations in the early medieval Welsh landscape, a multidisciplinary dataset allows effective identification of focal zones through indicators known from other areas of north-west Europe. Fourthly, the widely-used 'multiple estate model' is found to be an inadequate descriptor of the early medieval Welsh landscape. An alternative approach is proposed. Methodologically, it demonstrates the value of a multidisciplinary approach, especially the systematic use of place-names which is novel in a Welsh context. It also provides key resources for other researchers by geolocating pre-1700 place-names from a previously published survey; creating GIS resources (polygons and geolocated databases) from the 1840s tithe map and schedules for parishes in its detailed case study areas; and providing a geolocated database of 16th-century demesne and Welsh-law landholdings in the cantref.

Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales

Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales PDF

Author: Janet Burton

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2015-02-15

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1783161817

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Concise histories of the religious houses of post-Conquest Wales with a full introduction to the history of medieval monasticism in Wales, written by two established monastic historians Up-to-date assessment of the standing remains of Wales’s medieval abbeys and priories Practical user-friendly visitor guide to the religious houses of medieval Wales Visually attractive format, highly illustrated with colour and b/w photographs, drawings, maps and ground plans Extensive bibliography and suggestions for further reading

Medieval Wales

Medieval Wales PDF

Author: David Walker

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1990-06-28

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9780521311533

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This book provides an introduction to the history of medieval Wales, with particular emphasis on political developments. It traces the growth of Welsh princely power, and the invasion and settlement of Welsh territories by Norman adventurers which resulted in the creation of the marcher lordships and the steady erosion of Welsh princely authority in the south. The subsequent development of a powerful Welsh state under the leadership of the princes of Gwynedd was checked by Edward I in 1277, and thereafter the principality was deliberately overrun and destroyed: the Edwardian castles are symbols of conquest. Despite valiant attempts by local leaders in the thirteenth century, and by a national leader Owain Glyn Dwr early in the fifteenth, the English domination of Wales persisted, even beyond the advent of the Tudor dynasty. This is the first comprehensive short textbook on medieval Wales to be written for school and university students. It will also attract anyone with a general interest in Celtic studies or in the centuries which played such a formative role in the development of the Welsh national character.

The Medieval Castles of Wales

The Medieval Castles of Wales PDF

Author: John R. Kenyon

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2010-10-15

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0708323634

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This book provides the visitor to the castles of Wales with a history and description of the main castles open to the public. There is an easy-to-understand outline of how castles developed, as well as features that give more detail of the different parts of a castle, such as keeps and gatehouses.

The Welsh and the Medieval World

The Welsh and the Medieval World PDF

Author: Patricia Skinner

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2018-02-07

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1786831910

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Entry point into Welsh migration by experts: many of the contributors have longer studies that students can then read; Multi-disciplinary: shows how historical and literary sources can be read together, includes new archaeological data Showcases new work by a new generation of Welsh historians.

The Gentry of North Wales in the Later Middle Ages

The Gentry of North Wales in the Later Middle Ages PDF

Author: Antony D Carr

Publisher: University of Wales Press

Published: 2017-10-12

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 1786831376

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This is a study of the landed gentry of north Wales from the Edwardian conquest in the thirteenth century to the incorporation of Wales in the Tudor state in the sixteenth. The limitation of the discussion to north Wales is deliberate; there has often been a tendency to treat Wales as a single region, but it is important to stress that, like any other country, it is itself made up of regions and that a uniformity based on generalisation cannot be imposed. This book describes the development of the gentry in one part of Wales from an earlier social structure and an earlier pattern of land tenure, and how the gentry came to rule their localities. There have been a number of studies of the medieval English gentry, usually based on individual counties, but the emphasis in a Welsh study is not necessarily the same as that in one relating to England. The rich corpus of medieval poetry addressed to the leaders of native society and the wealth of genealogical material and its potential are two examples of this difference in emphasis.