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A Concise History of Wales PDF

328 Pages·2014·4.266 MB·English
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CAMBRIDGE CONCISE HISTORIES Titles in the series: AConciseHistoryofAustralia STUART MACINTYRE AConciseHistoryofBolivia HERBERT S. KLEIN AConciseHistoryofBrazil BORIS FAUSTO AConciseHistoryofBritain,1707–1795 W. A. SPECK AConciseHistoryofBulgaria2ndedition R. J. CRAMPTON AConciseHistoryofFinland DAVID KIRBY AConciseHistoryofFrance2ndedition ROGER PRICE AConciseHistoryofGermany2ndedition MARY FULBROOK AConciseHistoryofGreece2ndedition RICHARD CLOGG AConciseHistoryofHungary MIKLO´S MOLNA´R AConciseHistoryofIndia BARBARA D. METCALF and THOMAS R. METCALF AConciseHistoryofItaly CHRISTOPHER DUGGAN AConciseHistoryofMexico BRIAN R. HAMNETT AConciseHistoryofNewZealand PHILIPPA MEIN SMITH AConciseHistoryofPoland JERZY LUKOWSKI and HUBERT ZAWADZKI Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Sussex Library, on 09 Jul 2017 at 13:39:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107280229.016 AConciseHistoryofPortugal2ndedition DAVID BIRMINGHAM AConciseHistoryofSouthAfrica ROBERT ROSS Othertitlesareinpreparation Downloaded from https:/www.cambridge.org/core. University of Sussex Library, on 09 Jul 2017 at 13:39:32, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https:/www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107280229.016 PREFACE Formidablethoughthetaskpromisedtobe,foravarietyofreasons Iwasverypleasedtoacceptthiscommission.Ihadalwaysbelieved, and still do, that no self-respecting historian should forego the opportunity of writing the entire history of his or her native land. I also relished the intellectual challenge of preparing a conciseand digestibleaccountthatwouldnotfallintothetrapofsqueezingthe life out of the past. Moreover, the prospect of completing a work whichwouldmeettheneedsofaninternationalaudienceaswellas thepeopleofWaleswastootemptingtoresist.Walesanditshistory deservestobemuchmorewidelyknownandappreciated. Ihavetriedtogivedueweighttoevents,movementsandideasin eachperiod,andifthechaptersonthemodernperiodaresomewhat longerthantheothersthissimplyreflectsthefactthatthematerial availablesincethecomingoftheprintedwordismuchmorevolu- minous and diverse. A book of this kind inevitably owes an irre- deemable debt to a great many scholars, both past and present, whose work has stimulated me profoundly. The further reading listattheendofthevolumeindicatesmyprincipaldebts,thoughI have also ventured (gingerly in some periods) into the thickets of original sources, as well as into a mass of articles and Welsh- languagepublications.Idohopethatthereaderwillsensethatthe critical synthesis presented here is flavoured with my own ideas, interpretations and the very occasional and pardonable bout of partiality. Most of all, I hope that the book conveys the richness andvitalityofthehistoryofWales. xi Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. The Librarian-Seeley Historical Library, on 24 Dec 2019 at 11:25:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511990090.001 xii Preface It’s a particular pleasure to thank several colleagues for their assistance. Miranda and Stephen Aldhouse-Green, Robert Johnston, John T. Koch, Huw Pryce, Paul O’Leary, Russell Davies, Neil Evans, Steven Thompson and Chris Williams read drafts of chapters, commented critically upon them and saved me from many errors and infelicities. I gratefully acknowledge their kindness. My greatest debt, however, is to the late Glanmor Williams, whose generosity in improving the work of colleagues and friends was proverbial. He read the best part of the typescript andkeptmyspiritsbuoyantbyofferingconstantadviceandencour- agement. I like to think that he would have enjoyed reading the whole printed version. Needless to say, I alone am responsible for theerrorsandinadequacieswhichremain. My personal assistant, Nia Davies, cheerfully transformed my long-hand scrawl into an immaculate typescript and helped me in allmannerofwaystoensurethattheworkreachedthepublishersin afitandpropercondition.Ithankhermostwarmly.Thestaffofthe National Library of Wales proved to be unfailingly helpful and courteous. I’m also grateful to John Jenkins, Paul Joyner, Penny IckeandPatriciaMoorefortheirassistanceinselectingappropriate illustrations,andtoAntonySmithforpreparingmostofthemaps. WilliamHowellskindlypreparedtheindex.IsabelleDambricourtof CambridgeUniversityPresswasamodelofpatienceandefficiency. As always, I owe an enormous debt to my family. My wife Ann knows better than anyone how much this book means to me and howithasrobbedusofpreciousleisurehoursandvacations.Since shehaslivedwiththisundertakingsinceitsinception,theveryleastI candobywayofinadequaterecompenseistodedicateittoherwith myloveandadmiration. GeraintH.Jenkins April2006 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. The Librarian-Seeley Historical Library, on 24 Dec 2019 at 11:25:30, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511990090.001 1 The earliest inhabitants In a dimly lit room in a secluded but sturdy farmhouse in early eighteenth-century Cardiganshire, a gifted young Anglican ordi- nand, aptly named Theophilus Evans, composed in his native lan- guage an epic history of Wales which remained a bestseller until thetwilightoftheVictorianera.EntitledDrychyPrifOesoedd(A MirroroftheFirstAges)(1716),thisracyhistoricalnarrativeofthe allegedlygloriousoriginsoftheWelshwasEvans’sspiritedriposte toEnglishsatiristswhohadpaintedunflatteringportraitsofWales as ‘a country in the world’s backside’ and as ‘the very rubbish of Noah’sflood’.Asuperbstoryteller,hepackedhispageswithmore heroesandgrippingincidentsthananynovelofbloodandthunder might have done, and by conjuring up images of luminaries like Gomer,Brutus,Beli,BraˆnandArthur(Boudica,styled‘Buddug’by Evans,wastheonlyheroinetoelbowherwayintothispageant)he caught the imagination of the Welsh reading public and deeply shaped their view of the distant past. This was history, or perhaps mythical writing, on a grand scale, and the vivid tales and heroic victoriesanddefeatsinthisunashamedlyCambrocentricworkwere so well tailored to the needs of a people desperately searching for their own national identity that it became a popular classic, espe- cially when editions in the Victorian era began including vivid engravedillustrations.EventheWelshwhoemigratedinlargenum- berstoPennsylvaniainthenineteenthcenturyinsistedonpublishing anEnglishtranslationatEbensburgin1834,sothattheirAmerican- born offspring could familiarize themselves with key events in the 1 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. The Librarian-Seeley Historical Library, on 24 Dec 2019 at 11:26:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511990090.002 2 AConciseHistoryofWales historyofthelandoftheirfathers.Inanextravaganteulogytothe Welsheditionof1898,thehistorianO.M.Edwardsclaimedthatno WelshhistorybookhadevermatchedEvans’spantheonofheroes. An eminent modern Welsh archaeologist, who probably never botheredtoreadtheoriginalversion,oncedescribedEvans’stheat- ricalpageantas‘afairlydottybook’.Credulous,uncriticalandeven dottyitmightappeartothemodernreader,butitwasaformative influence in the development of ideas about the Welsh past. Like mostofhiscontemporaries,theworld-viewofthisunlikelypeople’s remembrancer was dominated by the literal meaning of the most sacred scriptural text. At his side as he wrote, a copy of the Welsh bible–themostauthoritativesourceforeveryChristianhistorian– would have provided him not only with irrefutable proof of the manner in which God had created the earth but also an avowedly accurate chronology of the past. Taking his cue from the calcula- tions made by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh in the early seventeenth century,he believed that the Creation had occurred in 4004 BC. Had he read John Lightfoot, the Cambridge scholar, he would also have noted the precise time of 18 October 4004 BC, swiftly followed by Adam’s creation (at 9 a.m.) five days later. Startlingasitmayseemtous,Evanstookforgrantedthat,following the Creation, humankind derived from Adam and that, after the Flood,theworldhadbeenrepeopledbyNoah’sthreesons–Shem, Ham andJaphet –andbytheirdescendants,mostnotablyGomer, founderofthetribeknownastheCimbri,thefirstcolonizersofthe landmasswhichbecameknownasWales.Themostsignificantpart ofEvans’stale,therefore,washisproudaffirmationthattheWelsh had enjoyed a privileged position in the events which unfolded between the Creation and the Flood. In a second edition, he declared:‘hereisthebloodandraceoftheoldWelsh,asexaltedas anyearthlylineagecouldbe’.Inthecontextofthetime,thiswasa dramaticallyreassuringstatement. DuringtheWelshculturalrenaissanceoftheeighteenthcentury, interestswiftlydevelopedinthestudyofancientBritainandtherole of the Celtic peripheries, not least because of the attempts made in Edward Lhuyd’s magisterial Archaeologia Britannica (The ArchaeologyofBritain)(1707)tocelebratethehonourableancestry oftheWelshbyprovidingthemwithseeminglyirrefutableproofof Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. The Librarian-Seeley Historical Library, on 24 Dec 2019 at 11:26:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511990090.002 Theearliestinhabitants 3 the common origin of the Celtic languages. The notion of insular Celtsthereforewascalledintobeingbythisremarkablyeruditeand far-seeing Welsh polymath. Scholarly and unscholarly thinking aboutthealleged‘Celticity’ofBritainandIrelandthusbeginswith Lhuyd, and his position as keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford from 1691 to 1709 lent authority to his writings. As the Welsh themselves began to discover, invent and re-invent literary, historical and musical treasures, they derived comfort from the knowledge that their identity was based on a history considerably older than that of England. Members of the London-based Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, founded in 1751, claimed tobethedescendantsoftheaboriginalBritonsandaflurryoftopo- graphical guides and paintings highlighted strikingly attractive prehistoric remains. A wave of Romantic learning, which created the most bizarre and extravagant fantasies about noble ancestors knownasCelts,alsoplayedasignificantroleinrevivinginterestin thehistoryofoneoftheoldestlivingliterarylanguagesinEurope. AttheendoftheeighteenthcenturyTheophilusEvans’spatriotic torchwastakenupbyEdwardWilliams,whowasbetterknownby his bardic pseudonym Iolo Morganwg (Edward of Glamorgan). TherehasbeennogreaterculturaliconinWalesthanthisastonish- inglyeruditeandinventivestonemason.LiketheAnglicanTheophilus Evans, this Unitarian wordsmith from Flemingston in the Vale of Glamorganbelievedthatthebiblicalnarrativewasdivinelyinspired andthatitprovidedtheonlyconvincingexplanationoftheorigins of the universe and the diversity of human and animal life. In a ringing declaration of faith in God’s handiwork, he wrote: ‘the Almighty audibly proclaimed his existence and instantaneously with that utterance all the creation with a shout of inexpressible joy leapt into existence’. But Iolo Morganwg went much further than Evans. Fuelled by copious supplies of laudanum and a heady mixture of fact, fiction and extravagant fantasies, he became the mostsuccessfulliteraryandhistoricalforgerinEurope.Inthefever- ishhuntfortheWelshpast,Iolowastheleaderofthepackand,even tothisday,heremainsadeeplymysteriousandcontroversialfigure. Hewasfascinatedbybarrows,earthworks,hillfortsandespecially stonecircles,andhiswritingsweresuffusedwithbardicanddruidic lore. His most durable legacy was the Gorsedd of the Bards of the Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. The Librarian-Seeley Historical Library, on 24 Dec 2019 at 11:26:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511990090.002 4 AConciseHistoryofWales 1.TheRomantichistorianandpoetEdwardWilliams(1747–1826), universallyknownbyhisbardicnameIoloMorganwg,exertedan enormousinfluenceonhowpeopleinterpretedtheprehistoricpast.This painting,byWilliamOwenPughe,wasmadein1798.(TheNational LibraryofWales) Island of Britain, a remarkable druidic moot which first met on Primrose Hill, London, in June 1792 and which was subsequently incorporated into the official activities of the National Eisteddfod of Wales. By attracting like-minded Druids, poets, scholars and Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. The Librarian-Seeley Historical Library, on 24 Dec 2019 at 11:26:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511990090.002 Theearliestinhabitants 5 democratstothisintellectualforcing-house,Iolohopednotonlyto popularizetheolddruidiclorebutalsotoadvancetheradicalcause of Jacobinism and provide a new vision of Welsh nationality. A nation exists and flourishes only in its collective memory, and this first nationalinstitution wasdesignedtostiffenthe self-confidence andprideofoneoftheforgottenpeoplesofEurope.IoloMorganwg’s writingsexercisedaprofoundinfluenceonculturallifeinnineteenth- centuryWalesandsuccessfullycloudedthejudgementofscholarsup totheFirstWorldWar. ThenetresultwasthatthestoryoftheCreation,ofNoahandthe Flood, the dispersal of the nations, the descent of the Cimbrifrom Japhet, son of Noah, and the role of the Druids as custodians of knowledge and mythic lore became part of the warp and woof of the cultural experience of Welsh people. The increasingly Nonconformist population was thoroughly indoctrinated in the biblical account of the origins of humankind. When, at a Sunday schoolexaminationin1821,MargaretJonesofGanllwyd,Merioneth, recited aloud with complete accuracy thirty-two chapters of the Old Testament, shearticulated the common stock ofbeliefs which chapel-goershelddear.Evenaslateas1890theyoungWelshscholar John Morris-Jones stirred up a hornet’s nest when he spoke out against the innocent blind faith of the Welsh in the historicity of Gomer,sonofJaphet,sonofNoah.Ideasaboutarchaeology,prehis- toryandhistorywerestillrudimentary,andtheliteralinterpretation of Genesis continued to hold sway. The word ‘prehistoric’ did not enter the vocabulary until 1851, and the lack of an accurate and reliable time frame meant that the long sweep of geological and historical time simply could not be imagined. It is significant that the folk names bestowed on Welsh megalithic tombs – Carreg Samson,BeddyrAfanc,BarclodiadyGawres–reflectedthescrip- tural and classical narratives with which the public were so thor- oughlyfamiliar. Althoughnothingcanalterthefactthatthedependenceonscrip- turaltestimonyandmythicallorewasinimicaltointellectualdevel- opment, inquiring minds were beginning to turn to new forms of investigation. In the 1830s the geologists Adam Sedgwick and R.I. Murchison began to explore the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Wales and to develop classification systems such as ‘Cambrian’, Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. The Librarian-Seeley Historical Library, on 24 Dec 2019 at 11:26:21, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511990090.002

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Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.