Gautier de Coinci
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Book Series
Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe, vol. 31
The Chronicles of Medieval Wales and the March
New Contexts, Studies, and Texts
Ben Guy, Georgia Henley, Owain Wyn Jones, Rebecca Thomas (eds)
- Pages: xvi + 455 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Illustrations:6 b/w, 20 tables b/w.
- Language(s):English, Middle English, Latin
- Publication Year:2020
- € 85,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-58349-5
- Hardback
- Available
- € 85,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-58350-1
- E-book
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This book offers a collection of new studies on the chronicles of medieval Wales and the March, supported by synoptic pieces placing the tradition of chronicle writing in Wales within the context of historical writing on a broader scale. The volume is accompanied by five editions and translations of little-known texts written in Latin and Medieval Welsh.
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Review(s)
“Edited by Ben Guy, Georgia Henley, Owain Wyn Jones, and Rebecca Thomas, The Chronicles of Medieval Wales and the March is an excellent collection with a high standard of scholarship throughout and much of value in every chapter, sure to be widely cited for years to come. It will certainly be warmly welcomed by those working on later medieval Wales, but there is also a great deal that will interest English and Anglo-Norman historians as well as scholars of historical writing across Europe as a whole.” (Lindy Brady, in Journal of British Studies, 216, 2020, p. 449)
“Taken individually, each of the eleven chapters comprising The Chronicles of Medieval Wales and the March makes an extremely important contribution to the field. Each presents original and rigorous scholarship of an exceptionally high standard which significantly expands our knowledge of the corpus of chronicles from Wales and how they were compiled and transmitted. Aimed at the specialist rather than the curious, this set of essays provides enduring points of scholarly reference.” (Helen Fulton, in The Medieval Review, 21.08.19)
“This volume is an important contribution to historical sources for Wales in the medieval period, and to dismantling negative perceptions of these sources.” (Stephen J. Joyce, in Parergon, 38/2, 2021, p. 219)
“The volume is an outstanding contribution to a difficult field.” (Patrick Sims-Williams, in Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 82, 2021, p. 89)
“This is a sturdy and well-made book, with reliable binding, good quality paper, and clear illustrations and maps. It is addressed to an audience of specialists fa[1]miliar with the geography of Wales and its medieval history. It is an essential update for Jack’s 1972 guide and will be invaluable for graduate students and others delving into the sources for medieval Welsh history. The holistic approach taken by the authors of this book’s chapters for analysis of their respective historical works is very productive.1 It allows conclusions about the accuracy of dates for events, the geographic location where works were compiled, the intellectual interests and cultural life of works’ authors and sponsors, and the sources of information used by those authors.” (Frederick C. Supp, in North American journal of Celtic studies, 10/7, 2023, p. 285)
BIO
Dr Ben Guy is a Junior Research Fellow at Robinson College, University of Cambridge.
Dr Georgia Henley is an Assistant Professor of English at Saint Anselm College.
Dr Owain Wyn Jones is a Lecturer in History at Bangor University.
Dr Rebecca Thomas is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Bangor University.
Summary
The chronicles of medieval Wales are a rich body of source material offering an array of perspectives on historical developments in Wales and beyond. Preserving unique records of events from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries, these chronicles form the essential narrative backbone of all modern accounts of medieval Welsh history. Most celebrated of all are the chronicles belonging to the Annales Cambriae and Brut y Tywysogyon families, which document the tumultuous struggles between the Welsh princes and their Norman and English neighbours for control over Wales.
Building on foundational studies of these chronicles by J. E. Lloyd, Thomas Jones, Kathleen Hughes, and others, this book seeks to enhance understanding of the texts by refining and complicating the ways in which they should be read as deliberate literary and historical productions. The studies in this volume make significant advances in this direction through fresh analyses of well-known texts, as well as through full studies, editions, and translations of five chronicles that had hitherto escaped notice.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Preface
Chronicling and its Contexts in Medieval Wales — HUW PRYCE
Historical Writing in Europe, c. 1100–1300 — BJÖRN WEILER
Historical Scholars and Dishonest Charlatans: Studying the Chronicles of Medieval Wales — BEN GUY
Meet the Ancestors? Evidence for Antecedent Texts in the Late Thirteenth-Century Welsh Latin Chronicles — HENRY GOUGH-COOPER
Bonedd y Saint, Brenhinedd y Saesson, and Historical Scholarship at Valle Crucis Abbey — BARRY J. LEWIS
The Continuation of Brut y Tywysogyon in NLW, Peniarth MS 20 Re-visited — DAVID STEPHENSON
O Oes Gwrtheyrn: A Medieval Welsh Chronicle — OWAIN WYN JONES
The Cardiff Chronicle in London, British Library, MS Royal 6 B XI — GEORGIA HENLEY
The Chronicle of Gregory of Caerwent — JOSHUA BYRON SMITH
A Forgotten Welsh Chronology in Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MSS 5267B, Peniarth 50, and the Red Book of Hergest — REBECCA TRY *
Brut Ieuan Brechfa: A Welsh Poet Writes the Early Middle Ages — BEN GUY
Appendix: List of the Chronicles of Medieval Wales and the March
