Cronica Walliae

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The publication of Cronica Walliae in 2002 provided for the first time ever a printed text of a scholarly work found in manuscripts of the sixteenth century. Its author, the antiquary Humphrey Llwyd, born in Denbigh about 1527, graduated at Oxford University and entered the service of the earl of Arundel. He twice served as a Member of Parliament and, as member for Denbigh in 1569, is accredited with facilitating the passage of the bill for translating the Bible and Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. He died in Denbigh in 1568, and his monument stands in the parish church of Llanfachrell.

Cronica Walliae is Humphrey Llwyd's most substantial work and is based upon the medieval Welsh chronicle Brut y Tywysogyon, a narrative of the kings and princes of Wales from the death of Cadwaladr Fendigaid to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. It was used by David Powel in his preparation of his Historie of Cambria (1584), and its study today makes possible a better appreciation of the contribution of two scholars who, between them, laid the foundations for modern Welsh historical writing on the medieval period. No manuscript survived in Llwyd's own handwriting, and the present edition is based upon NLW Llanstephan 177, with variant readings from BL Cotton Caligula Avi.

Reviews

' Readers of this handsomely produced volume have been most ably served by the editor... The lengthy introduction ... is a work of careful and percipient scholarship which amply repays close study... This edition rewards careful study as the composition of one of the most notable of the succession of Welsh humanists who ... kept the flame of Welsh national consciousness alight at a time when many forces sought to extinguish it... ' (Welsh History Review) '...a work of painstaking scholarship.' Gwales.com "The high standards of production by the University of Wales Press provide a fitting setting for the volume's careful scholarship. There is much of interest here for anyone wishing to study sixteenth-century attitudes to the Welsh past. By making the Cronica Walliae available to a modern readership, this splendid edition adds substantially to our understanding of Welsh Renaissance historiography and its medieval antecedents." Huw Pryce, University of Wales Bangor, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies

Author Bio

Ieuan Morgan Williams was born at Pontarddulais and educated at Gowerton Intermediate School and the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. After war service in the Royal Air Force he taught at Gowerton and served in an administrative position at the office of the Council of the University of Wales before his appointment as head of the Department of Extra-Mural Studies at the University of Wales, Swansea. He was later appointed to the Chair of Adult Education and also served as Vice-Principal. Following the death of Ieuan Williams in 2000, this edition of Cronica Walliae was prepared for publication by J. Beverley Smith, Emeritus Professor of Welsh History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.