Writing Welsh History: From the Early Middle Ages to the Twenty-First Century

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.

Table of Contents:
Introduction PART I. DISTANT PASTS AND CONFLICTED PRESENTS: THE MIDDLE AGES 1: Prologue: Themes and Contexts 2: British Pasts: The Early Middle Ages 3: Saints, Kings, and Princes: Welsh Pasts in an Age of Conquest, 1070-1282 4: Curating the Past in a Conquered Land, 1282-1540 PART II. REAFFIRMATION AND ELABORATION, 1540-1770 5: 'Our Ancestors the Ancient Britons', 1540-1620 6: From the Universal to the Local: Framing the History of Wales, 1540-1620 7: Refurbishing the Past: Antiquarianism and Historical Writing, 1620-1707 8: From Druids to the Last Bard, 1707-1770 PART III. ROMANTICISM AND ENLIGHTENMENT, 1770-1880 9: Civilization, Liberty, and Dissent, 1770-1820 10: Cultural Revival and Romantic History: The World of Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc), 1820-1848 11: 'Living in the Past' and the Challenges of Modernity, 1848-1880 PART IV. PROFESSIONALIZATION AND NATIONHOOD, 1880-2020 12: Scientific History and National Awakening, 1880-1920 13: Consolidation and Reappraisal, 1920-1960 14: A New Beginning? Writing Welsh History, 1960-2020 Conclusion

About the Author :
Huw Pryce is Professor Emeritus at Bangor University, where he held the Chair of Welsh History from 2005 to 2021, and an honorary professor at Cardiff University. His publications have focused mainly on the history of medieval Wales and modern interpretations and uses of the Welsh past. He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and the co-editor of the Welsh History Review.

Review :
The chronological sweep of this text allows Pryce (emer., Bangor Univ.) to illuminate the ways in which the course of the history of the Welsh people produced changes in interpretations of that history. He also introduces readers to a vast number of writers and histories of Wales written over multiple centuries. This book will undoubtedly remain the core account of the historiography of Welsh history for many years to come. It is the first work of its kind to be conceived and written on this scale, and it succeeds in offering a convincing and lucidly contextualised synthesis of a large subject...Pryce's book reveals the historical depth and significance of this subject, and it serves as a timely reminder of its continuing potential in the modern world. In the substantial volume Writing Welsh History Huw Pryce succeeds in doing something rare, namely discuss research on all periods and deal with all kinds of historical texts, and to do so as a specialist ... I cannot think of any similar volume to this about the history of any country, especially a treatment possessing the breadth and depth of the author's scholarship ... From cover to cover, this volume is a consistent achievement. I urge anyone who is seriously interested in the history of Wales, or who wants to understand Wales better, to read it... It is an essential contribution to the discipline of Welsh history, but beyond that it is also an example for understanding the history of other countries. This book is a tour de force of intellectual history. This substantial book is a most accomplished investigation of how and why Welsh history has been written over many centuries, from a historian who has consistently produced work of the very highest standard on a wide variety of themes and topics in the history of Wales relating to both the medieval and modern eras. Pryce's execution of the subject goes beyond a simple survey of texts, to draw out themes and narratives across almost a millennium and a half as well as exploring questions of context, significance, and impact. The result is a broad yet insightful overview of the subject which will be of interest and importance not just to professional Welsh historians, but to anyone interested in Welsh history, culture, and identity. It goes without saying that the volume should have pride of place on the bookshelf of every Welsh historian, but Writing Welsh History also has so much to offer those interested in the historical writing of other nations... Writing Welsh History has continuity at its heart. A point that pervades the entire book is the long-lasting influence of ideas first developed in the Middle Ages for the conception of Welsh history. This is a monumental book, informed by a remarkable grasp of the content of Welsh history writing over the past fifteen hundred years... Huw Pryce is exceptionally well informed not only about Welsh history writing but about history writing and its methods more widely and he brings this knowledge to bear throughout the book, with subtlety, analytical power and energy.