Huw Pryce – författare

This is the first full scholarly study of the relationship between native secular law and the church in medieval Wales. The interaction was close, despite Archbishop Pecham's condemnation of native law as the work of the devil. Huw Pryce assesses the influence of the church on Welsh law, examining the participation of churchmen in the composition of lawbooks and the administration of legal processes and analysing ecclesiastical criticism of native customs, notably those concerning marriage. He considers the extent to which Welsh law defended the authority and possessions of the church, focusing in particular on the status of clerics and on rights of sanctuary and lordship. The book throws revealing new light on both the law and the church in Wales in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. As a study of the impact of ecclesiastical reform on a society perceived by some contemporaries as barbarian and immoral this scholarly and lucid account makes an important contribution to medieval history.

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.

Collecting sixteen thought-provoking new essays by leading medievalists, this volume celebrates the work of the late Rees Davies. Reflecting Davies' interest in identities, political culture and the workings of power in medieval Britain, the essays range across ten centuries, looking at a variety of key topics. Issues explored range from the historical representations of peoples and the changing patterns of power and authority, to the notions of 'core' and 'periphery' and the relationship between local conditions and international movements. The political impact of words and ideas, and the parallels between developments in Wales and those elsewhere in Britain, Ireland and Europe are also discussed. Appreciations of Rees Davies, a bibliography of his works, and Davies' own farewell speech to the History Faculty at the University of Oxford complete this outstanding tribute to a much-missed scholar.

This 1998 collection of studies examines the use of the written word in Celtic-speaking regions of Europe between c. 400 and c. 1500. Building on previous work as well as presenting the fruits of much new research, the book seeks to highlight the interest and importance of Celtic uses of literacy for the study of both medieval literacy generally and of the history and cultures of the Celtic countries in the Middle Ages. Among the topics discussed are the uses and significance of charter-writing, the interplay of oral and literate modes in the composition and transmission of medieval Irish and Welsh genealogies, prose narratives and poetry, the survival of Celtic culture in Brittany and of Gaelic literacy in eastern Scotland in the twelfth century, and pragmatic uses of literacy in later medieval Wales.

This 1998 collection of studies examines the use of the written word in Celtic-speaking regions of Europe between c. 400 and c. 1500. Building on previous work as well as presenting the fruits of much new research, the book seeks to highlight the interest and importance of Celtic uses of literacy for the study of both medieval literacy generally and of the history and cultures of the Celtic countries in the Middle Ages. Among the topics discussed are the uses and significance of charter-writing, the interplay of oral and literate modes in the composition and transmission of medieval Irish and Welsh genealogies, prose narratives and poetry, the survival of Celtic culture in Brittany and of Gaelic literacy in eastern Scotland in the twelfth century, and pragmatic uses of literacy in later medieval Wales.

This volume provides the first comprehensive collection of charters, letters and other written acts issued by native rulers of Wales from the early twelfth century to the Edwardian conquest of 1282-3. It thereby makes more accessible than ever before a key body of source material for the study of medieval Wales during 'the age of the princes' - an era of struggles for power by native rulers both among themselves and with Marcher lords and the English crown. The documents assembled and analysed here illuminate a wide range of topics including political developments and concepts of authority in Wales, Anglo-Welsh relations, contacts with kings of France and the papacy, benefactions to religious houses, dispute settlement and uses of the written word in Welsh society.

This is the first volume to examine how the history of Wales was written in a period that saw the emergence of professional historiography, largely focused on the nation, across Europe and in the United States. It thus sets Wales in the context of recent work on national history writing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and, more particularly, offers a Welsh perspective on the ways in which history was written in small, mainly stateless, nations. The comparative dimension is fundamental to the volume's aim, highlighting what was distinctive about Welsh historical writing and showing how the Welsh experience mirrors and illuminates broader historiographical developments. The book begins with an introduction that uses the concept of historical culture as a way of exploring the different strands of historiography covered in the collection, providing orientation to the chapters that follow. These are divided into four sections: 'Contexts and Backgrounds', 'Amateurs and Popularizers', 'Creating Academic Disciplines', and 'Comparative Perspectives'. All these themes are then drawn together in the conclusion to examine how far Welsh historians exemplify widespread trends in the writing of national history, and thereby point-up common themes that emerge from the volume and clarify its broader significance for students of historiography.

This is the first volume to examine how the history of Wales was written in a period that saw the emergence of professional historiography, largely focused on the nation, across Europe and in the United States. It thus sets Wales in the context of recent work on national history writing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and, more particularly, offers a Welsh perspective on the ways in which history was written in small, mainly stateless, nations. The comparative dimension is fundamental to the volume's aim, highlighting what was distinctive about Welsh historical writing and showing how the Welsh experience mirrors and illuminates broader historiographical developments. The book begins with an introduction that uses the concept of historical culture as a way of exploring the different strands of historiography covered in the collection, providing orientation to the chapters that follow. These are divided into four sections: 'Contexts and Backgrounds', 'Amateurs and Popularizers', 'Creating Academic Disciplines', and 'Comparative Perspectives'. All these themes are then drawn together in the conclusion to examine how far Welsh historians exemplify widespread trends in the writing of national history, and thereby point-up common themes that emerge from the volume and clarify its broader significance for students of historiography.