Rees Davies - The British Isles, 1100-1500 Comparisons, Contrasts and Connections.

The British Isles 11001500

The British Isles
11001500

Comparisons, Contrasts
and Connections

Edited by
R. R. DAVIES

This eBook was published in Great Britain in 2021 by John Donald,

an imprint of Birlinn Ltd

Birlinn Ltd

West Newington House

10 Newington Road

Edinburgh

EH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 1988 by John Donald

Copyright The Editor and Contributors severally 1988

eBook ISBN 978 1 78885 438 2

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical or photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher.

The right of the editor and contributors to be identified as the authors of this book has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Editor wishes to acknowledge the generous grant from the British Academy which made the conference at Gregynog in September 1986 possible. He also wishes to thank the contributors to this volume for their promptness, forbearance and ready co-operation.

CONTRIBUTORS

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

ABBREVIATIONS

All works cited published in London, unless otherwise stated.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

R. R. Davies

The essays published in this volume consist, in a revised form, of eight of the ten papers delivered at a Colloquium held at Gregynog Hall, Newtown, Powys in September 1986. Since collections of this kind often appear to be miscellaneous, not to say ramshackle, in character, it may be as well to try to explain briefly the raison behind the Colloquium and, thereby, the volume. The first aim may be broadly characterised as fraternal and comparative. Historians in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales work very considerably, though not exclusively, within the historiographical traditions of their respective countries; they tend to write for, and to discuss with, fellow historians working within the same tradition. For example, it has been unusual, at least until fairly recently, for historians of medieval England to feel obliged to learn in any depth about the histories of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, except possibly at those moments when they impinge on the history of England (and then their comments sometimes reveal an outdated simplicity which they would be the first to deplore within their own subject). Historians of medieval Ireland and the same is true of Scotland and Wales have often likewise given the impression that they wish to conduct a dialogue only with themselves and seem to have felt unwilling or unable to communicate the fascination and significance of their subject to a wider historical audience. Fortunately there have been signs of a shift away from such isolationist habits in recent years. This volume hopes to promote that shift further. There are few more salutary intellectual exercises than being asked to explain and defend ones academic position and pursuits to an outsider. Opening windows into other peoples gardens might help us to notice issues which have been undercultivated in ours or neglected in theirs. It might also prompt comparisons, connections and contrasts which might not occur to us by gazing exclusively and introspectively at our own patch. That, surely, is one important way in which a historiographical tradition might grow and change direction.

The second aim of the Colloquium and the volume may be described as integrative. For a variety of reasons, deeply embedded inter alia in intellectual training and academic divisions, the history of the British Isles has generally been fractured into the discrete histories of its four constituent countries. It is not difficult to understand or indeed to defend such a practice (Davies, p. 10). Such a British approach does not necessarily have validity for all subjects or all periods, and it is at best complementary, not alternative, to approaches on national lines; but it is in the belief that it is an approach well worth exploring further that this volume was conceived.