Is the Conservation of the United Kingdom’s Built Heritage Sustainable?
How does one put a price on the priceless? What is the cost of protecting and preserving this multitude of homes, castles, industrial buildings and urban social history and, more importantly, is it sustainable?
National Library of Wales purchases Laws of Hywel Dda manuscript for £541,250
The Library will be showcasing the purchase to the public for a short exhibition – 23 July – 10 August – and then it will be taken into the care of the Library’s conservators to be rebound and digitised.
The Prince and the Poet
In this essay, I will discuss the historical importance of panegyric poetry as a performative act, representing a component of a lord’s self-perception. I will limit myself, for the sake of time and for the sake of presenting a clear picture, to the poetry of the age of the Gogynfeirdd or not-so-early poets (about 1100 to 1282), representing the strongest tradition of patronage of poetry and a period of increased Welsh political independence.
Medieval Welsh manuscript to go for sale at auction
A 14th century manuscript containing the Laws of Hywel Dda is set to go up for auction next month, and is expected to sell for between £500,000-700,000
Constructions of Gender in Medieval Welsh Literature
The discussion of gender in medieval literary criticism is generally considered
to be a relatively new field, having achieved real momentum only in the latter half of the twentieth century. However, since it was the early fifteenth century when Christine de Pisan wrote a response to Jean de Meun’s Romance of the Rose, it cannot really be imagined that the medieval audience was too primitive to be fully aware of the subtext inside their stories.
Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250
The research addresses the presence of the castles and discusses their roles as weapons of conquest and structures of administrative control.
Placenames and the settlement pattern of dark-age Scotland
This study will examine some placename evidence for features of settlement in E Scotland, that zone which lies of the Firth of Forth and E of the main Scottish mountain mass. In this areaat least four different languages have been spoken with differing temporal and spatial extents: one non-Indo-European tongue, Celtic, Norse and English.
Living Links: The Role of Marriage between Welsh and Anglo-Norman Aristocratic Families in the Welsh Struggle for Autonomy, 1066-1283
These marriages were utilized by the Welsh in their attempts to preserve their political identity and autonomy against the incursions of the Anglo-Normans, as well as to gain advantages over their Welsh rivals. The Anglo-Normans, in turn, used the marriages to gain land and influence in Wales.
Problems with medieval Welsh local administration – the case of the maenor and the maenol
This article proposes to look more closely at one level of this emergent Welsh territorial order, namely, the level of the maenor/maenol.
The hanging of William Cragh: anatomy of a miracle
On Monday 12 November 1291, Welsh rebels, William Cragh and Traharn ap Howel, were dragged from the dungeons of Swansea Castle and hanged on the nearby gallows. That, by all reason, should have been the end of the story – except that it was not.
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth : the making of a Welsh prince
Finally, this thesis seeks to address the limitations on Llywelyn’s successes, in light of succeeding events and concludes with a discussion of Llywelyn’s legendary status in the modern world.
Impact of crusader castles upon European western castles in the Middle Ages
What was the order in which certain types of castle defense came to be during the middle ages and how do we first see them in the archaeological record from the time?
Hidden Manna and the Holy Grail: The Psychedelic Sacrament in Arthurian Romance
Scholars are generally agreed that Arthurian wonder tales like “Cullhwch and Olwen” must have been widely distributed in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany in advance of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. Belief in a living Arthur was then in the air.
Caring for the castles and abbeys of the Welsh princes
Gwilym Hughes – Cadw’s assistant director, historic environment – outlines the achievements of the Welsh Cultural Heritage Initiative.
Millstones for Medieval Manors
Richard Holt recently reminded us that mills were at the forefront of medieval technology and argued persuasively that windmills may have been invented in late twelfth-century England.
Swansea Castle to be opened to visitors this weekend
Swansea Castle in Wales will be opened up for public tours this weekend, allowing people to explore the medieval Welsh ruin. It’s only the third time in decades that people will have the chance to explore the historic attraction.
Interpreting a medieval church through liturgy
Some of us still feel that an attempt to bring the old liturgy of the church to life again would transport us best of all across the centuries to Tudor times. For churches are built primarily for liturgy – it is their staple diet.
Enduring Borderlands: the Marches of Ireland and Wales in the Early Modern Period
Despite the successes of the ‘New British History’ in encouraging a less Anglocentric view of the early modern period, there have been few direct comparisons between Wales and Ireland.
Changing ideologies of Medieval state formation: the growing exploitation of land in Gwynedd c.1100–c.1400
The sub-discipline has broadened its scope to examine themes such as the search for signification in landscape, the meaning of landscape and the ideology associated with landscape forms.
Gruesome murders to mythical beasts: Britain’s historic church wallpaintings now can be seen online
Earlier this month, the Churches Conservation Trust – the national charity protecting historic churches at risk – launched a brand new online resource providing an interactive guide to just some of the fine wallpaintings in its care
Wales and the Crusades
What was Wales’s involvement in the Crusades and what role did Welsh soldiers play in the campaign to halt Islamic expansion into Jerusalem? How did Welsh participation in the Crusades help cement English control over Wales?
New book examines the Cistercians in Wales
The Cistercians in the Middle Ages explores the European context for the emergence of what was very probably the most influential of all the medieval monastic orders.
Dolwyddelan Castle
Dolwyddelan Castle By Samuel Cooke The Student Researcher, Journal of undergraduate research, Vol.1:1 (2011) Introduction: The Welsh Princes of Gwynedd, later to become…
Cultural Rebellions: Welsh Literary Outpouring After The Thirteenth-Century Edwardian Conquest
With the death of Llywelyn the Last, the army of King Edward I of England was able to sweep through the Welsh territories and subdue any remaining threats to English overlordship. With that act, the real story of this thesis commences.
Medieval biographies and the geography of power: the Historia Gruffud vab Kenan
Medieval biographies and the geography of power: the Historia Gruffud vab Kenan Jones, Rhys (Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales) Journal…