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. . . this is a monumental work of scholarship for which the author deserves our
congratulations.' (Planet)pp xvii664 Royal 8vo 1998 Reprinted 2000
0-7083-1474-0
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. . . this is a monumental work of scholarship for which the author deserves our
congratulations.' (Planet)
‘
. . . an indispensable point of departure for all scholarly work on thirteenth-century Wales . . . will provide all future scholars with an invaluable quarry of knowledge and sensitive historical judgments on a remarkable period and a remakable prince . . . Smith in this monumental volume has laid out the evidence with painstaking and exemplary fullness and utter scholarly integrity . . . Generations of scholars to come will be grateful to him for a work which is truly the coping stone on all his distinctive contributions to the study of the history of medieval Wales. It is a great achievement.' English Historical Review‘Without doubt, this magisterial book . . . will long remain indispensable to the study of thirteenth-century Welsh history. It has the further merit of being beautifully produced, as we have come to expect from the University of Wales Press.’ (Archaeologia Cambrensis)
`. . . elegant and scholarly . . . An essential addition by a distinguished and very readable scholar to the bookshelves of anyone interested in our history.' (Daily Post)
` . . . this impressive biography is likely to last for a long time as a definitive study of Prince Llywelyn and his era . . . Beverley Smith has written a fine, objective study of a lost Welsh leader. This biography, using all the resources of modern scholarship, opens up the life and times of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd to a new readership, to a new generation.' (New Welsh Review)
This is the first full-length English-language study of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (c. 1225-1282), prince of Wales. In this scholarly and lucid book J. Beverley Smith offers an in-depth assessment not only of Llywelyn but of the age in which he lived. The author takes thirteenth-century Wales as a backdrop against which he analyses the relationship between a sense of nationhood and the practical realities of creating a structure to embrace a unified principality of Wales held under the aegis of the English Crown. This examination of the triumphs and subsequent reverses of a ruler of exceptional vision and vigour is a substantial contribution to our understanding of the nature of Welsh politics and the complexities of Anglo-Welsh relations.
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales is an outstanding work by an author with a perceptive understanding of the complexities of his subject. It is clearly, sometimes passionately, written and is destined to be the definitive work on this matter for many generations.
J. Beverley Smith is Research Professor of Welsh History in the Department of History and Welsh History, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He is the author of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd: Tywysog Cymru and of numerous articles.