A History of Wales by J. E. Lloyd

From evidence of the earliest human habitations of Wales, through the Roman occupation and the Age of the Saints to the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Wales’s last native ruler, in 1282, J. E. Lloyd’s magisterial book covers the full sweep of Welsh history. Lavishly annotated, comprehensively indexed, it covers the well-known names — Llywelyn the Great, Hywel the Good, the Lord Rhys — as well as a host of lesser-known princes, of poets, clergy, courtiers, warriors and lovers, bringing to life and understanding Wales’s laws, its political institutions, its complex internecine conflicts, and its aspirations as a united mediaeval state.

Republished after more than one hundred years, with a new foreword by Leanne Wood reflecting on its relevance to the Wales of our day, this book tells us how, even in defeat, its rulers laid the basis of a Welsh nationhood that is as much alive now as in the golden age of the princes.