This compelling collection of 9 Welsh history books covers every historical period of the beloved country of Cymru. The authors guide us from the Stone Age to the princes and kings of the old Welsh kingdoms. We see how stories and legends evolved, and great rebellions and tragedies unfolded.
Immerse yourself in the riveting, turbulent, and often bloody past of Cymru in these Welsh history books. These books about Wales take us back to its wild roots in prehistory when ancient Welsh people learned to survive and tame their environment. Then, from its earliest beginnings, you’ll come forward through the ages to the Wales we know today.
What are the Welsh known for in history?
The legend of King Arthur comes from Wales. It may also originate from other parts of Britain inhabited by Celts who spoke Brythonic, the parent language of Welsh. The country of Wales is home to more castles per square mile than any other country on Earth. Wales was also the birthplace of one of Britain’s most enduring and enigmatic legends, Owain Glyndŵr. As the last Welshman with the title “Prince of Wales,” he led a rebellion against the English in the fifteenth century. They never captured him.
What is Welsh historically known as?
The Welsh people call the Welsh language “Cymraeg.” Wales is known as “Cymru,” which is the Welsh name of the country. Cymru comes from the word “combrogos,” meaning “compatriot” in Brythonic. The word Wales, on the other hand, originates from “Wealhas,” an Anglo-Saxon word that translates as “foreigner.”
What was Wales called before “Wales?”
It was called Cymru by the Welsh. Before it became a country, the land that became Wales was called different things depending on who occupied it. The article “What did the Romans call Wales?” gives four different names for Wales and when and who used them.
What is the oldest Welsh book?
The oldest Welsh book still in existence is the Black Book of Carmarthen, a poetry manuscript. Historians believe that a single scribe wrote the book around the year 1,250. Clues to its origins include its association with Teulyddog, Carmarthen, the Priory of St. John the Evangelist, and its binding color. The book is complete and written entirely in Welsh. It may have been part of a collection of Welsh books that historian William Forbes Skene called the “Four Ancient Books of Wales” in the 1800s.
This post is about book recommendations for Welsh history books.
Welsh History Books
A History of Wales by John Davies
A History of Wales continues to be a favorite among modern Welsh history books. While being highly in-depth and detailed in its account, and so is not aimed at the casual reader, spending time on its pages is well worth the effort with the way the author presents the subject. Davies begins in the Ice Ages and gradually brings the reader to the present. He traces the social, political, and cultural history of the corner of Great Britain that eventually came to be known as Wales.
Prepare to explore hill forts in the Iron Age, Roman ruins, and the days of the Reformation. You’ll also learn about the hardships and advancements of the Industrial Revolution. For example, in the twentieth century, the travail that the mining boom caused led to a series of strikes by Welsh miners. You won’t be disappointed with this vivid and accurate exploration of the birth of the Welsh nation and its unconquerable people.
A Concise History of Wales (Cambridge Concise Histories) by Geraint H. Jenkins
Being one of the most popular books on Welsh history, A Concise History of Wales gives a good overview of the country in this illustrated volume.
From the blurb:
Based on historical research and debates about Wales and Welshness, this volume offers an authoritative and accessible account of the period from Neanderthal times to the opening of the Senedd, the home of the National Assembly for Wales, in 2006. Within a remarkably brief and stimulating compass, Geraint H. Jenkins explores the emergence of Wales as a nation, its changing identities and values, and the transformations its people experienced and survived throughout the centuries. In the face of seemingly overwhelming odds, the Welsh never reconciled themselves to political, social, and cultural subordination and developed ingenious ways of maintaining a distinctive sense of their otherness. The book ends with the coming of political devolution and the emergence of a greater measure of cultural pluralism. Professor Jenkins’s lavishly illustrated volume provides enthralling material for scholars, students, general readers, and travellers to Wales.
The History of the British: from a Welsh Point of View, Volume 1, 11,000 BC to 545 AD by Tim Ap Hywel
This book is a must-read if you’re looking for Welsh history books written from an authentically Welsh viewpoint. An author after my own heart, Tim ap Hywel begins our journey from the Paleolithic and works toward the Iron Age with the arrival of the Celts. Note: the “ap” in the author’s name means “son of” or named in honor of, so it means “Tim son of Hywel.” A History of the British is one of the best Welsh history books examining the subject with new eyes.
From the blurb:
The History of the British, from a Welsh Point of View, sets out to chronicle the history of the British inhabitants of the Island of Britain, that is to say, the pre-English population, from the time of the last Ice Age until they separate out into the three British nations of Britanny, Cornwall and Wales, but with special focus on the history of the failed, could’ve-been, fourth British state, Strathclyde, tracing its development until the time of its final loss of British identity and abandonment of the Welsh language in maybe the twelfth century. This book includes, among other things, what I have not seen elsewhere: a continuous and connected narrative of Britain’s years inside the Roman Empire. I have tried to pitch the level of the book midway between scholarly and populist, so while it’s not superficial, it dispenses with normal scholarly apparatus.
This publication, though, is just volume 1, covering from 11,000 BC to 545 AD.
Looking at Welsh History by A. J Roderick
Looking at Welsh History is an excellent book for those who wish to learn about early Welsh history. The author takes the reader back to the days of hunter-gatherers and cavemen in Cymru and works forward to the Middle Ages.
From the blurb:
Contents: Hunters and Cavemnen; Farmers and Hut Dwellers; The First Metal Workers; Men of the Hill Forts; Romans on the March; Early Christians in Wales; The Early Welsh Princes; The Normans Come to Wales; Welsh People in the Middle Ages; The Welsh Fight Back; The Great Castles; Monasteries in Wales; Life in the Countryside; Life in the Towns; Soldiers and Rebels.
Welsh History Books: Oxford History of Wales Series
Oxford’s five-book series begins with the Britons of Iron Age Wales and approaches modern Wales.
Book One: Wales and the Britons, 350-1064 (History of Wales) by T. M. Edwards
From the blurb:
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.
Book Two: The Age of Conquest: Wales 1063-1415 (History of Wales) by R. R. Davies
From the blurb:
This classic study examines the period when Wales struggled to retain its independence and identity in the face of Anglo-Norman conquest and subsequent English rule. Professor Davies explores the nature of power and conflict within native Welsh society as well as the transformation of Wales under the English crown. An account of the last major revolt under Owain Glyndŵr forms the culmination of this excellent work.
Book Three: Recovery, Reorientation, and Reformation: Wales c.1415-1642 (History of Wales) by Glanmor Williams
From the blurb:
This book presents for the first time a rounded portrait of the two decisive centuries of Welsh history that followed the protracted and destructive Glyn Dwr Rebellion (1400-1415). A penetrating account of the lives of Welsh men and women at all social levels, it tells the lively and exciting story of Welsh recovery from disaster and chronicles the political, religious, and cultural changes that were ushered in by the Tudor Act of Union, the Renaissance, and the Reformation. Professor Williams introduces readers to a diverse and impressive cast of characters such as Owain Glyndwr, Henry Tudor, William Herbert, and Robert Devereux, and draws on literature of the age, prose and verse, Welsh and English, to enhance an already vivid tale of a robust, colorful, and formative era of Welsh history.
Book Four: The Foundations of Modern Wales 1642-1780 (History of Wales) by Geraint H. Jenkins
From the blurb:
Between 1642 and 1780, powerful social forces transformed Wales from an impoverished, downtrodden, and sleepy nation to one on the threshold of unprecedented social, economic, and political change. Drawing on an extensive range of original and published material, Jenkins reveals how demographic growth, agrarian advancements, the development of heavy industries and trade, and improved communications created the foundation for modern Wales. Among the colorful and influential personalities who appear in this book are Vavasor Powell, Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Edward Lhuyd, and Sir Humphrey Mackworth.
Book Five: Rebirth of a Nation: Wales 1880-1980 (History of Wales) by Kenneth O. Morgan
From the blurb:
A wide-ranging and comprehensive analysis of modern Welsh history by the acclaimed historian Kenneth O. Morgan. Taking as its starting point 1880, the book covers all aspects of the nation’s history, from political, social, economic, and religious development to literary, intellectual, and sporting achievements.
This post was about book recommendations for Welsh history books.
If you’re looking for more, including fiction Welsh history books, you may like 4 Best Books About Wales for All-Night Reading and 6 Witchy and Wonderful Welsh Mythology Books.
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