Wales and the Britons, 350-1064: (History of Wales)

This, the first volume in the History of Wales, provides a detailed history of Wales in the period in which it was created out of the remnants of Roman Britain. It thus begins in the fourth century, with accelerating attacks from external forces, and ends shortly before the Norman Conquest of England. The narrative history is interwoven with chapters on the principal sources, the social history of Wales, the Church, the early history of the Welsh language, and its early literature, both in Welsh and in Latin. In the fourth century contemporaries knew of the Britons but not of Wales in the modern sense. Charles-Edwards, therefore, includes the history of the other Britons when it helps to illuminate the history of what we now know as Wales. Although an early form of the name Wales existed, it was a word in the Germanic languages, including English, and meant inhabitants of the former Roman Empire; it therefore covered the Gallo-Romans of what we know as France as well as the Britons.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Lands of the BritonsA. After Rome 1. Britain, 350-5502. The Britons and their Languages3. Inscriptions4. The Britons and the Irish, 350-8005. From Pelagius to Gildas6. Rome and the Britons, 400-664B. Early Welsh Society 7. Charters and Laws8. Lords, Food-Renders, and Peasants9. Kinship and Status10. KingshipC. The Britons and the English, 550-1064 11. The Britons and the Northumbrians, 547-685: The Evidence12. The Britons, Northumbria, and the rise of Mercia, 550-68513. The Britons and their neighbours under the Mercian hegemony14. Two Ninth-Century Writers15. The Transformation of the Ninth Century16. The Britons and the Empire of Britain17. Wales, 950-1064D. The Welsh Church and Culture 18. The organization of the Welsh Church, 768-10619. Learning20. Poets and Story-TellersBibliographyIndex

About the Author :
Thomas Charles-Edwards was Jesus Professor of Celtic and Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford from 1997 until 2011. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and a Fellow of the British Academy.

Review :
Thomas Charles-Edwards has written a book that will be essential reading, and not only for those concerned with the history of Wales, for many decades to come. In short, this volume clearly reflects a career marked by erudition. Not surprisingly, experts in the field will value the work. Nevertheless, the text is accessible to novices. This volume will revolutionise the study of early medieval Wales the most detailed and rigorous account of early medieval Welsh history, and of the written sources for that history, published to date. A signal scholarly achievement, it not only provides an invaluable point of entry into a wide range of debates but, thanks to the originality of its overall conception and its numerous fresh interpretations, compels us to look afresh at the formative period that marked the beginnings of the History of Wales a major study based on a lifetime's work by one of the leading historians of Britain in the period which it concerns An important, elegantly written work of high scholarship. The breadth and depth of scholarship on offer is extraordinary ... a splendid work. a brief review can barely do justice to the riches to be found in this book ... It ought to be read by everyone with an interest in early medieval Britain The appearance of the first volume in the seminal 'Oxford History of Wales' is to be warmly welcomed ... Professor Thomas Charles-Edwards has produced a remarkably full and detailed picture of early medieval Wales. Charles-Edwards combines narrative history with archaeological and linguistic evidence in a masterly way, with detailed scrutiny of the documentary sources and of recent work on their interpretation ... It will remain a standard work in this complex field for many years to come.