Believer or Atheist? – The Priest/Poet R. S. Thomas
The title of this lecture, ‘Believer or Atheist? – The Priest/Poet R. S. Thomas’, sounds a shocking one for an Archbishop, in whose church R. S. Thomas served as a priest for his whole ministry. I have chosen it because R. S. Thomas has been accused by many of...
Adar Cymraeg mewn Coedwig Americanaidd
Mae Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg America yn faes academaidd newydd ac felly nid ar chwarae bach y mentrir diffinio’r agweddau creiddiol arno ac ateb y cwestiynau sy’n ganolog iddo. Rwyf wedi bod yn ymgodymu ag un o’r cwestiynau hyn ers nifer o flynyddoedd bellach, sef: i ba raddau y gellid sôn...
The Mansion of Owain’s Grave
The disappearance of Owain Glyn D ̆r in 1415 is probably the most celebrated unsolved mystery in the history of Wales. His revolt against the English crown and his struggle to establish an independent Welsh state with its own native prince, language, government, church and universities is well documented....
The Machinery of Justice in a Changing Wales
In recent years, immense changes have taken place in the machinery of government in Wales as a part of the process of devolution. Public attention has concentrated principally on the executive and legislative powers which have been transferred to new Welsh institutions under the Government of Wales Act 1998...
Lloyd George and Land Reform: The Welsh Context
David Lloyd George was undoubtedly the outstanding Welsh political figure of the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century.1 Among the multifarious themes that intersected with his career, one of the most long-lasting was his devotion to land reform and to attacking the role of...
Wales and the Citizens’ Advice Bureau
The Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) Service1 was formed at the outbreak of the Second World War as a means of providing advice and information to the citizens of Britain’s cities, which would enable them to deal with the large- scale disruption associated with war. Since this period, it has...
The Future of Welsh Devolution
It is a particular pleasure to address a joint meeting of the Montgomeryshire Society and the Cymmrodorion – organizations with proud histories – on this memorial occasion. I used to note in the Times records of meetings, frankly never expecting to be asked to speak myself. I intend to...
On-Screen Embodiment of the Welsh Mam
1Deirdre Beddoe, doyenne of women’s history in Wales, argued during the 1980s that Welsh women have been, and continue to be, culturally invisible.2 Over the years, Wales has, in general, projected a masculine image to the world via its patriarchal interpretation of history, literature, drama and films. However, as...
Huw T Edwards a Datganoli 1945–1964
O dderbyn gwireb Ron Davies mai proses nid digwyddiad yw datganoli (‘devolution is a process, not an event’), yna adeg o arbrofi a thafoli opsiynau oedd y cyfnod o ddiwedd yr Ail Ryfel Byd hyd at sefydlu’r Swyddfa Gymreig yng Nghaerdydd, gydag Ysgrifennydd Gwladol yn ben arni, yn 1964....
Lloyd George at Eighty
David Lloyd George celebrated his eightieth birthday at his home at Bron-y-de, Churt, Surrey on 17 January 1943. It was an especially tense, potentially explosive occasion for the notoriously feud-racked Lloyd George family. It is a most useful and insightful vantage point from which to view, firstly, inter-relationships within...
Alfred Thomas and Wales in Parliament, 1885-1910
Alfred Thomas (1840–1927) is a curiously neglected figure in the history of late nineteenth century Wales. This is in spite of the fact that he left voluminous personal papers (most of which are now housed in the Glamorgan Record Office), and was a regular correspondent of a number of...
Manawydan uab Llŷr
As they were sitting there they heard a tumultuous noise, and with the intensity of the noise there fell a blanket of mist so that they could not see each other. And after the mist, everywhere became bright. When they looked to where they had once seen the flocks...
Wales at Work: Retrospect and Prospect
In this year of grace 1901 Wales is one of the brightest and most truly civilized spots in the Queen’s dominions…. With the black mineral pouring into the lap of Cardiff, Newport, Swansea and Llanelli, where the argosies of the nations await its arrival to con- vey it to...
Walter Meredith, C. 1558-1607: Scrivener of Radnorshire and London
In asserting that the early modern Welsh diaspora is ‘a huge and fascinating subject’, Professor Sir Glanmor Williams noted in particular that ‘the outflux of men and women of humbler origin is more significant in terms of numbers involved than the most dazzling...
The Welshness of William Emrys Williams
William Emrys Williams (1896–1977), the writer, educator, arts administrator and publisher, was a human powerhouse in the field of cultural transmission. Notions of Welshness reverberated in the epicentre of British cultural life in the middle of the twentieth century; Williams emphasized his links with Wales, and others who knew...