Barry J. Lewis – författare

Christianity, in its Catholic, Protestant and Nonconformist forms, has played an enormous role in the history of Wales and in the defining and shaping of Welsh identity over the past two thousand years. Biblical place names, an urban and rural landscape littered with churches, chapels, crosses and sacred sites, a bardic and literary tradition deeply imbued with Christian themes in both the Welsh and English languages, and the songs sung by tens of thousands of rugby supporters at the national stadium in Cardiff, all hint at a Christian presence that was once universal. Yet for many in contemporary Wales, the story of the development of Christianity in their country remains little known. While the history of Christianity in Wales has been a subject of perennial interest for Welsh historians, much of their work has been highly specialised and not always accessible to a general audience. Standing on the shoulders of some of Wales’s finest historians, this is the first single-volume history of Welsh Christianity from its origins in Roman Britain to the present day. Drawing on the expertise of four leading historians of the Welsh Christian tradition, this volume is specifically designed for the general reader, and those beginning their exploration of Wales’s Christian past.

Christianity, in its Catholic, Protestant and Nonconformist forms, has played an enormous role in the history of Wales and in the defining and shaping of Welsh identity over the past two thousand years. Biblical place names, an urban and rural landscape littered with churches, chapels, crosses and sacred sites, a bardic and literary tradition deeply imbued with Christian themes in both the Welsh and English languages, and the songs sung by tens of thousands of rugby supporters at the national stadium in Cardiff, all hint at a Christian presence that was once universal. Yet for many in contemporary Wales, the story of the development of Christianity in their country remains little known. While the history of Christianity in Wales has been a subject of perennial interest for Welsh historians, much of their work has been highly specialised and not always accessible to a general audience. Standing on the shoulders of some of Wales’s finest historians, this is the first single-volume history of Welsh Christianity from its origins in Roman Britain to the present day. Drawing on the expertise of four leading historians of the Welsh Christian tradition, this volume is specifically designed for the general reader, and those beginning their exploration of Wales’s Christian past.

Dyma gyfrol gyfoethog o ysgrifau’n ymwneud ag amrywiol agweddau ar lenyddiaeth Gymraeg a Cheltaidd, ac sy’n talu teyrnged i gyfraniad arbennig yr Athro Marged Haycock i’r ddisgyblaeth. Cesglir ynghyd waith ysgolheigion blaenllaw ar bynciau’n ymestyn o’r cerddi Cymraeg cynharaf i lên gwerin a chof bro. Gyda’i gilydd, ffurfia’r penodau lyfr tra sylweddol a phwysig ar lenyddiaeth Gymraeg a Cheltaidd. 

This rich volume of essays engages with varied aspects of Welsh and Celtic literature as a tribute to the enormous contribution made to the discipline by Professor Marged Haycock. Work by leading scholars is gathered together on subjects ranging from the earliest Welsh poems to folklore and regional memory. The volume forms a substantial and important contribution to the study of Welsh and Celtic literature.