A comprehensive and scholarly study of the life, work and times of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the Last Prince of Wales, 1225-82, by an outstanding historian. 3 genealogical tables and 5 maps. First published in 1998.

Astudiaeth gynhwysfawr a threiddgar o fywyd, gwaith ac amseroedd Llywelyn ein Llyw Olaf, 1225-82, gan hanesydd eithriadol. Tri thabl achau a 5 map. Cyhoeddwyd gyntaf yn 1998.

Reprinted twice since its first publication in 1998, this is certainly the ultimate definitive study in English on the last true Prince of Wales – and it is difficult to envisage how it could ever be improved upon. Professor Beverley Smith, who held the Sir John Williams Chair of Welsh History at Aberystwyth, had written a previous biography of Llywelyn in Welsh a dozen years earlier and this book follows the same general plan, but with significant amplification. It is a very substantial volume of some six hundred pages and the reader is left with the conviction that everything that could be said about this prince at this distance in time, has been said in this book.

The author begins at the moment in 1267 when Llywelyn meets Henry III at Rhyd Chwima to pay homage, but thereby elevating his own status by having it acknowledged by England that he was truly the Prince of all Wales – the first time that this had ever happened.

The author is politely critical of Sir John Edward Lloyd’s treatment of this Llywelyn in his famous 1911 History of Wales, as he feels that Lloyd lauded the grandfather, Llywelyn the Great, a little too enthusiastically at the expense of the later man. He points out that the second Llywelyn achieved some things that eluded his illustrious ancestor and that this cannot all be attributed either to the first Llywelyn’s groundwork nor for 'being in the right place at the right time’ later in the thirteenth century. He managed to balance the primacy of his own Gwynedd with the competing aspirations of Powys and Deheubarth and at the same time achieve Welsh unity, whilst treading the dangerous tight-rope of relationships with England – until it all went disastrously wrong.

Professor Smith has not only recorded and prodigiously commented upon the historical events of those years, but also conveys much of the surrounding political and cultural atmosphere of those heady times. This book will remain the bedrock of the subject, the seams of which will be mined by scholars and researchers for years to come.

Bernard Knight

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.