Medieval Wales c.1050-1332

David Stephenson

Description

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.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Maps
Genealogical tables
Introduction
CHAPTER 1- An outline survey of Welsh political history, c.1050–1332
CHAPTER 2 - The Age of the Princes: shifting political cultures and structures
CHAPTER 3 - The other Wales: the March
CHAPTER 4 - The limits to princely power
CHAPTER 5 - New ascendancies
Envoi
Notes
Select bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Histoire
• Great Britain
• History
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786833884
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

RETHINKING THE HISTORY OF WALES
MEDIEVAL WALES
c.1050-1332
RETHINKING THE HISTORY OF WALES SERIES
Series Editors:
Professor Paul O Leary, Aberystwyth University and Professor Huw Pryce, Bangor University
This series aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the history of Wales by introducing particular periods and themes in ways that challenge established interpretations. Whether by offering new perspectives on familiar landmarks in the historiographical landscape or by venturing into previously uncharted terrain, the volumes, each written by a specialist in the field, will provide concise and selective surveys that highlight areas of debate rather than attempting to achieve comprehensive coverage. The series will thus encourage an engagement with diverse understandings of the Welsh past and with its continuing - and sometimes contested - significance in the present day.
RETHINKING THE HISTORY OF WALES
MEDIEVAL WALES
c.1050-1332
CENTURIES OF AMBIGUITY
David Stephenson -->

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2019
© David Stephenson, 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright owner s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-386-0
eISBN 978-1-78683-388-4
The right of David Stephenson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
The cover design combines images from a Latin text of the Laws of Hywel Dda , MS Peniarth 28, fols 21r (dog) and 24v (horse). By permission, National Library of Wales.
Cover design: Olwen Fowler
For Jan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Maps
Genealogical tables
Introduction
CHAPTER 1
An outline survey of Welsh political history, c .1050-1332
CHAPTER 2
The Age of the Princes: shifting political cultures and structures
CHAPTER 3
The other Wales: the March
CHAPTER 4
The limits to princely power
CHAPTER 5
New ascendancies
Envoi
Notes
Select bibliography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I should like to thank Huw Pryce both for the invitation to write this book, and also for the time and effort which he put in to comment, with typical perceptiveness, on a draft of it. I owe a great debt of gratitude to fellow historians of medieval Wales, past and present, for the stimulus which their works have provided. The extent of that debt will be apparent throughout this book. Conversations with Hugh Brodie, whose work promises to shed much light on this period, have proved consistently stimulating and enlightening. I am particularly grateful to Emma Cavell for allowing me to read important papers prior to their publication, and for her careful scrutiny of, and illuminating comments on, a draft of the book. Cath D Alton has drawn the maps with her customary skill and forbearance. I am grateful to Llion Wigley and all his colleagues at the University of Wales Press for their guidance and support. Particular thanks are due to Elin Nesta Lewis for her careful and very helpful copy-editing. In the course of the volume s preparation I have received notable help from Bethan Phillips and Dafydd Jones. The biennial Bangor Colloquia on medieval Wales and the meetings of the Welsh Chronicles Research Group have been important sources of ideas. Not for the first time I want to thank the members of the medieval history groups at Llanidloes, Newtown and Berriew. They have heard much of this book. Their good humour and their comments are invaluable. The Powysland Club remains a great source of learned companionship and of resources, not least in its splendid library. As always, my greatest thanks are due to my wife Jan, who has contributed to this book in so many ways: she has borne with remarkable tolerance my frequent disappearances into the medieval centuries and has offered crucial support when it has been most needed.
ABBREVIATIONS
AC
John Williams ab Ithel (ed.), Annales Cambriae (London: Rolls Series, 1860). Note that all references in this source should be checked against Henry Gough-Cooper s online edition, for which see the select bibliography
AWR
Huw Pryce (ed.), The Acts of Welsh Rulers, 1120-1283 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2005)
BBCS
Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies
Bartrum, Welsh Genealogies
P. C. Bartrum (ed.), Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1400 , 8 vols (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1974)
ByT Pen. 20 Trans.
Thomas Jones (ed. and trans.), Brut y Tywysogyon, Peniarth MS 20 Version (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1952)
ByT, RBH
Thomas Jones (ed. and trans.), Brut y Tywysogyon, Red Book of Hergest Version (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1955)
CACW
J. G. Edwards (ed.), Calendar of Ancient Correspondence Concerning Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1935).
CAP
William Rees (ed.), Calendar of Ancient Petitions Relating to Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1976).
CChR
Calendar of Charter Rolls, 1226-1516 , 6 vols (London: HMSO, 1903-27)
CCR
Calendar of Close Rolls, 1272-1500 , 46 vols (London: HMSO, 1900-55)
Close Rolls
Close Rolls, 1227- 1272, 4 vols (London: HMSO, 1902-38)
CPR
Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1232-1509 , 53 vols (London: HMSO, 1891-1916)
Davies, Age of Conquest
R. R. Davies, The Age of Conquest: Wales 1063-1415 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) [Originally published as Conquest Coexistence and Change; Wales 1063-1415 (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1987)]
Davies, Lordship and Society
R. R. Davies, Lordship and Society in the March of Wales, 1282-1400 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978)
GBF
Rhian M. Andrews et al. (eds), Gwaith Bleddyn Fardd a Beirdd Eraill Ail Hanner y Drydedd Ganrif ar Ddeg (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996)
GDB
N. G. Costigan et al. (eds), Gwaith Dafydd Benfras Fardd ac Eraill o Feirdd Hanner Cyntaf y Drydedd Ganrif ar Ddeg (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1995)
GLlF
K. A. Bramley et al. (eds), Gwaith Llywelyn Fardd I ac Eraill o Feirdd y Ddeuddegfed Ganrif (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994)
GLlLl
Elin M. Jones (ed.), Gwaith Llywarch ap Llywelyn Prydydd y Moch (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1991)
GMB
J. E. Caerwyn Williams et al. (eds), Gwaith Meilir Brydydd a i Ddisgynyddion (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1994)
Littere Wallie
J. G. Edwards (ed.), Littere Wallie (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1940)
Lloyd, A History
J. E. Lloyd, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest , 2 vols with continuous pagination (3rd edn; London: Longman: 1939)
LTMW
Dafydd Jenkins (ed.), The Law of Hywel Dda: Law Texts from Medieval Wales (Llandysul: Gomer Press, 1986)
Patent Ro
lls Patent Rolls, 1216-32 , 2 vols (London: HMSO, 1901-3)
Smith, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
J. Beverley Smith, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales (2nd edn; Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2014)
Stephenson, Empires in Wales
David Stephenson, Empires in Wales: from Gruffudd ap Llywelyn to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd , Welsh History Review , 28, 1 (2016), 26-54
Stephenson, Medieval Powys
David Stephenson, Medieval Powys: Kingdom, Principality and Lordships, 1132-1293 (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2016)
Stephenson, Political Power
David Stephenson, Political Power in Medieval Gwynedd: Governance and the Welsh Princes (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2014)
WAR
James Conway Davies (ed.), The Welsh Assize Roll, 1277-84 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1940)
WHR
The Welsh History Review
WKC
T. M. Charles-Edwards, Morfydd E. Owen and Paul Russell (eds), The Welsh King and his Court (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000)
MAPS
MAP 1: Uplands and principal rivers
MAP 2: Principal medieval political divisions: realms and lordships
MAP 3: Cistercian lands in Welsh polities
MAP 4: The regional ascendancy of Cadwallon ap Madog in the lands between Wye and Severn, 1175-9
MAP 5: The principality of Wales at the time of the Treaty of Montgomery, 1267
MAP 6: Edward I s Wales
NOTES TO MAPS
Map 1
The predominantly upland nature of most of Wales, and the landscape marked by alternation between high ground and often deeply incised river valleys are at once clear. These phenomena were sometimes obstacles to communication and political control, and helped to promote distinct regional and even local identities and loyalties.
Map 3
Only the Cistercian lands which lay within territories subject to Welsh rulers for significant periods in the thirteenth century are shown here. The extent of the Cistercian territories, generally subject to wide immunities from exaction and service, is impressive. Areas devoid of Cistercian holdings sometimes suggest the continuing power and influence of traditional monasteria .
For a map of all Cistercian lands in Wales see David H. Williams, An Atlas of Cistercian Lands in Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1990), p. 91; for the large number of non-Cistercian religious houses in Wales see Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (eds), Abbeys and Priories of Medieval Wales (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2015), map 1 (Benedictines and Clunia