22:
137:, which also explains the many Welsh words and personal-names derived from Greek and Latin. In the same way, the existence in Wales of soothsayers who foretell the future when in an ecstatic trance reminds him of similar Trojan prophets. Gerald discusses the possible divine inspiration of these prophecies, and concludes that knowledge of the future can be given to pagans as well as to Christians. He asserts the respect paid by the Welsh to noble ancestry, and digresses into some notes on their farming and fishing practices. He praises their piety and respect for the clergy, and concludes the book:
418:, the study of the writer’s own culture in idioms drawn both from that culture's natives and from its colonizers or metropolitan outsiders. On the other hand Michael Faletra saw the work as a resource intended to be exploited by the colonial powers as an aid to administering the conquered parts of Wales. Meic Stephens considered it "of the utmost value to social historians", and pointed out the importance of the final passage, which brings in the old man of Pencader: his "defiant but dignified answer is one of the classic statements of Welsh nationhood."
156:, with their local knowledge, should play in the attack and in the garrisoning and administering of conquered territory. The Welsh are to be turned against each other wherever possible, and once defeated they are to be treated firmly but with respect. Finally, he advises the Welsh that they can best resist attack by adopting Norman methods of warfare, by unity, and by holding firm to their love of freedom. He sums up their patriotism by quoting the words of an old man of
147:
goes on to show from historical examples that in the past they have been cowardly or heroic as their circumstances changed. At present they excel at guerrilla warfare, but in a pitched battle they flee if their first attack fails. They are greedy for land, and their princely families are often divided between warring brothers, though foster-brothers are much closer. They are greedy also for food. Gerald complains that the Welsh marry within the
128:. He outlines the high military spirit, weapons, armour and tactics of the Welsh, then, turning to their customs in times of peace, describes their frugality, hospitality to strangers, table manners and sleeping habits, and their care of their teeth and facial hair. He next turns to the talents of the Welsh people in the fields of instrumental music,
151:
by the Church, and that they pass on church benefices from father to son. He denounces a tendency toward homosexuality among the luxurious ancient
Britons, but admits that in modern times hardship has eradicated this practice. They were beaten down by successive Anglo-Saxon assaults, but have had a
79:
In the First
Preface Gerald justifies his decision to write on the subject of his own country, describing those things around him that have hitherto gone unrecorded, rather than treating of classical subjects which have been better dealt with by others. In the future he plans to write an unspecified
406:, in which, he said, Gerald had "virtually reinvented the ethnographic monograph, a genre that had largely lapsed since antiquity". Shirin Khanmohamadi, entirely agreeing with this verdict, saw Gerald's rediscovery of this form as being prompted by his belief that Welsh culture was under threat from
381:
forms, and that this vitiates the usefulness of the work as a historical source, since he might have been exaggerating differences for literary effect. Brynley F. Roberts agreed that it has to be used with care, but nevertheless believed it to represent "Gerald at his disciplined best as a writer",
168:
My Lord King, this nation may now be harassed, weakened and decimated by your soldiery, as it has so often been by others in former times; but it will never be totally destroyed by the wrath of man, unless at the same time it is punished by the wrath of God. Whatever else may come to pass, I do not
146:
A short preface to Book 2 announces Gerald's intention of now describing the Welsh people's worse points. He begins by complaining of their constant perjuries and lack of good faith, then moves on to their propensity towards living by robbery and plunder. In this they show no courage, he says, and
117:
into which each principality is divided, and names their palaces and dioceses. The course of each of Wales’s principal rivers is described, with a lengthy digression on the habits of the beaver. The author compares the fertility of the various regions of Wales, and the purity of their Welsh, then
397:
benefits greatly from being written on a subject that could not, as several of his works did, evoke any of his prejudices or personal animosities. The result, he judged, could stand as a "very honourable comparison with any topographical attempt that had appeared up to his time, and with any that
141:
The Welsh go to extremes in all matters. You may never find anyone worse than a bad
Welshman, but you will certainly never find anyone better than a good one. A happy and prosperous race indeed, a people blessed and blessed again, if only they had good prelates and pastors, and one single prince
345:
thought that Gerald's Welsh sympathies are unmistakable, while
Michael Faletra saw the book as slanted against the Welsh, attributing to them virtues more trivial than their vices and giving them military advice much less practical than the advice he gave to the
354:
132:
poetry (notable for its lavish use of alliteration), and part-singing. Gerald praises their sense of humour, instancing several Welsh witticisms and also some classical Latin ones. Their boldness in speaking he attributes to their supposed
94:. He declares his love of literature, which has inspired him to undertake the hard work needed to research and write such a book. He hopes to be rewarded with the attention and praise of readers, now and in the future.
382:
its brevity being the mark of its discipline and careful construction. He saw this, together with the interest of the subject matter and the warmth of the author's personality, as being the factors that made the
152:
little more success against the
Normans. Gerald goes on to give detailed strategic advice on how to conquer and rule Wales, laying especial stress on the leading part that the
337:’s objectivity in its presentation of the Welsh has been the subject of much scholarly disagreement. Its "extreme impartiality" was asserted by H. E. Butler, and denied by
97:
Book 1 begins with a description of the geographical extent of Wales, and of the country's physical ruggedness. Wales is, says Gerald, divided into the principalities of
284:, Bishop of Lincoln, and illustrated it with a map of Wales. This copy is known to have survived as late as 1691, but is now lost, probably a victim of the
1188:
21:
1128:
652:
430:
had set the tone for all travel-writing from Gerald's day to our own, giving the writer's own opinions equal prominence with the simple facts.
1123:
834:
71:-Welsh ancestry. It is divided into two books, the first concentrating on the virtues of the Welsh people, and the second on their faults.
1158:
1178:
710:
173:
any race other than the Welsh, or any other language, will give answer to the
Supreme Judge of all for this small corner of the earth.
113:
was split between his three sons, each of whose descendants down to the present prince are then listed. He then gives the number of
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1053:
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662:
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892:
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772:
604:
499:
463:
148:
1173:
594:
475:
399:
134:
377:, presenting two sharply opposed views of the Welsh, was intended by Gerald as a display of his mastery of classical
1163:
229:
exists in two, or arguably three, versions. The first of these, completed in 1193 or early 1194 and dedicated to
157:
208:
was begun almost immediately afterwards. He included three substantial quotations from the earlier work in the
407:
1153:
214:
483:
233:, Archbishop of Canterbury, survives in many manuscripts, and has been edited from the earliest three:
1118:
1148:
986:
411:
318:
188:
161:
486:
in 1908, and again reprinted in 1968 by AMS Press. The more recent translations by Lewis Thorpe,
398:
appeared for many ages afterwards…his treatise is one of the best specimens of his best style."
342:
98:
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285:
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for his model. In the Second
Preface Gerald praises his dedicatee, and asks him to read the
807:
491:
482:, published as part of Bohn's Antiquarian Library. The Hoare translations were reissued in
193:
110:
102:
415:
292:
281:
240:
64:
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Gerald produced a lightly revised version of his work in early 1215, and presented it to
419:
244:
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1092:
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347:
338:
230:
197:
170:
68:
955:
1041:
599:. : University of Wales Press on behalf of the Welsh Arts Council. pp. 65–66.
451:
353:
322:
153:
56:
819:
1005:
366:
82:
48:
988:
Giraldi
Cambrensis opera. Volume 6: Itinerarium Kambriae et Descriptio Kambriae
811:
86:, but for the time being he will describe Wales, taking the 6th-century writer
370:
106:
67:
or as
Giraldus Cambrensis, was a prominent churchman of Welsh birth and mixed
378:
317:
at four points. It is treated as a manuscript of the second version by
1094:
Gerald of Wales: The
Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales
438:
Between 1585 and 1804 four more or less unsatisfactory editions of the
192:, grew out of a tour of Wales Gerald had undertaken in 1181 along with
120:
114:
295:, Archbishop of Canterbury. This version survives in one manuscript:
87:
442:
were published. The only critical edition is James F. Dimock (ed.)
204:, a narrative account of that tour, was completed in 1191, and the
196:, Archbishop of Canterbury, with the purpose of recruiting for the
839:. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 37–56.
352:
52:
20:
272:
are believed to be independent copies of a lost manuscript, and
129:
212:, as well as several passages from his first compositions, the
1129:
Thomas Wright's revision of Richard Colt Hoare's translation
474:
were published. In 1861 both were revised by the antiquary
280:. Gerald presented a manuscript of this first version to
516:
514:
800:
Bartlett, Robert. "Gerald of Wales (c.1146–1220x23)".
488:
The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales
932:
A Bibliographical Guide to Bohn's Antiquarian Library
893:"Giraldus Cambrensis and His Journey Through Wales"
763:. Cardiff: Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments. p.
25:Statue of Gerald of Wales in St. David’s Cathedral
715:. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 4.
313:This has very minor differences from the text of
1073:The Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales
1048:. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 263–264.
8:
806:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
1007:Wales and the Medieval Colonial Imagination
712:War and Society in Medieval Wales, 633–1283
480:The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis
448:Itinerarium Kambriae et Descriptio Kambriae
991:. London: Longman, Green, Reader, and Dyer
301:. British Library, Cotton, Domitian A.I.
16:Medieval treatise on Wales and its people
878:
654:The Autobiography of Giraldus Cambrensis
520:
402:further stressed the originality of the
252:. British Library, Cotton, Nero D.VIII.
866:
803:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
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696:
684:
510:
934:. Stamford: Paul Watkins. p. 28.
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626:
580:
568:
556:
544:
532:
310:. British Library, Bib. Reg. 13B.XII
657:. London: Jonathan Cape. p. 26.
118:discusses the etymology of the names
7:
390:the most popular of Gerald's works.
109:, and has been since the kingdom of
1076:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
365:Sean Davies argued that the use of
304:There is also one more manuscript:
149:degrees of consanguinity prohibited
14:
891:Carradice, Phil (13 April 2011).
373:in the two-book structure of the
1189:Manuscripts about Wales in Latin
1124:Richard Colt Hoare's translation
1010:. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
414:, and also an early example of
186:, like its companion-piece the
59:dating from 1193 or 1194. The
985:Dimock, James F., ed. (1868).
478:, and included in a volume of
410:. It was, in fact, a form of
63:’s author, variously known as
1:
962:. Kimming ApS. 27 August 2014
833:Khanmohamadi, Shirin (2014).
759:. In Kightly, Charles (ed.).
1070:Stephens, Meic, ed. (1986).
1032:Roberts, Brynley F. (2012).
1004:Faletra, Michael A. (2014).
820:UK public library membership
755:Roberts, Brynley F. (1988).
593:Roberts, Brynley F. (1982).
321:, but as a third version by
1159:12th-century books in Latin
1091:Thorpe, Lewis, ed. (1978).
651:Butler, H. E., ed. (1937).
393:James Dimock felt that the
178:Composition and manuscripts
1205:
1134:Lewis Thorpe's translation
1097:. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
836:In Light of Another's Word
761:A Mirror of Medieval Wales
361:in James Dimock's edition.
1179:Medieval Welsh literature
1044:; Minard, Antone (eds.).
1184:Works by Gerald of Wales
869:, pp. 137, 158–159.
462:In 1806 translations by
444:Giraldi Cambrensis opera
408:Anglo-Norman colonialism
135:descent from the Trojans
47:) is a geographical and
1169:Ethnographic literature
171:Day of Direst Judgement
1119:James Dimock's edition
812:10.1093/ref:odnb/10769
790:, pp. xlvi–xlvii.
464:Sir Richard Colt Hoare
362:
357:The first page of the
175:
144:
26:
709:Davies, Sean (2004).
559:, pp. 24–26, 49.
356:
276:to be a poor copy of
215:Topographia Hibernica
166:
139:
24:
930:Tyas, Shaun (1996).
881:, pp. 143, 437.
490:, were published by
472:Itinerarium Cambriae
412:salvage anthropology
388:Itinerarium Cambriae
257:. British Library,
220:Expugnatio Hibernica
189:Itinerarium Cambriae
44:Description of Wales
1036:Descriptio Kambriae
757:"Gerald the Writer"
699:, pp. 158–159.
468:Descriptio Cambriae
454:. (London, 1868).
384:Descriptio Cambriae
184:Descriptio Cambriae
38:Descriptio Kambriae
32:Descriptio Cambriae
1174:Geography of Wales
960:Medieval Histories
484:Everyman's Library
363:
343:Brynley F. Roberts
169:think that on the
142:and he a just one!
27:
1164:Books about Wales
956:"Gerald of Wales"
920:, pp. 52–53.
818:(Subscription or
583:, pp. 49–50.
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400:Robert Bartlett
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293:Stephen Langton
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424:Itinerarium
261:, 13C.111.
202:Itinerarium
111:Rhodri Mawr
83:magnum opus
1143:Categories
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1083:0192115863
979:References
941:1900289016
822:required.)
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395:Descriptio
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375:Descriptio
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335:Descriptio
264:Of these,
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107:Deheubarth
92:Descriptio
61:Descriptio
57:its people
1046:The Celts
505:Footnotes
494:in 1978,
329:Reception
259:Bib. Reg.
470:and the
434:Editions
426:and the
386:and the
218:and the
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158:Pencader
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75:Summary
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130:bardic
88:Gildas
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