The Welsh Laws

T. M. Charles-Edwards

This volume is a clear and succinct introduction to medieval Welsh legal writing - one of the pinnacles of medieval European culture. The native laws of Wales are preserved in about eighty Welsh and Latin manuscripts dating from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries. The laws persisted until the sixteenth century. This volume concentrates on the forms taken by legal texts, not their content. It distinguishes the main genres and offers explanations of how they may have come into existence when they did. The writings are set into their historical context and are related to parallel developments elsewhere in Europe. They are important because they provide historians with excellent evidence concerning the nature of Welsh society in the Middle Ages. The law-books are also invaluable in the interpretation of references in medieval Welsh literature which would otherwise be obscure. Furthermore, Welsh medieval literature is full of technical, legalistic words which can only be properly understood by reference to the law texts. The Laws themselves are a literary masterpiece which directly influenced the form and style of Welsh prose.