|
Publication of Volume I of The Gwent County History (the first of five authoritative volumes on the history of Gwent from prehistoric times to the end of the twentieth century) is a major event. It is the achievement of many dedicated individuals, and of enlightened institutions and organisations.
The County History movement gathers pace. The counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, Merioneth and Pembroke have each published one or more volumes towards this series that will survey their entire histories. Glamorgan's sixth and final volume appeared in 1988.
Gwent, with its impeccable Roman origins in Venta Silururn (Caerwent) became the Monmouthshire of Henry VIII, languishing as a county of England, to re-emerge in 1974 as Gwent, only to be swept away in 1996. Blessedly, though names and maps change, the land and its people endure.
This sturdy, handsome volume, combining history and archaeology, is devoted to Gwent at its greatest extent: broadly, all of south-east Wales east of Glamorgan. It spans an exceptionally long period, from remotest prehistory (from c.250,000 years ago) up to the advent from the east of Norman invaders, round about 1070 AD. This is a period hitherto relatively neglected by archaeologists.
Sophisticated, innovative analyses and interpretations of landscape, archaeological sites and unearthed hoards have now disclosed a fascinating (albeit partial, sometimes disjointed) history of human activity in early Gwent. Surprises abound. The fourteen learned contributors (six of them of the University of Wales, Newport, three of the National Museum of Wales) devote seven searching chapters to prehistory, from Palaeolithic through Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, to Iron Age. With a wealth of new information they trace human activity from hunter-gatherer-fisher societies and the first farming societies onward, discussing tools and weapons, art and ritual, material culture. The data open up wholly new perspectives, enabling us to view Gwent's hills and dales with new eyes.
From the first century AD, written records gradually offer greater certainty of historical fact. With chapters 8 to 14, we come to Gwent's recorded history, buttressed still by the skills of archaeology. Two chapters tell of the Romans as they subdued the land of the Silures; four chapters survey the Early Middle Ages, especially their society, administration, culture and religion. Welsh, Saxons and Vikings vied for survival or supremacy, all to be engulfed by the tidal wave of Norman power in the eleventh century AD.
Sobriety and consummate scholarship are the hallmarks of this pioneering volume, setting the scene for the Gwent of our nearer ancestors and of our own day. Impressive though the essays are, their authors stress the need for much further research. The lay reader need not fear; even the most complex, arcane topics are presented clearly and intelligibly. Mystery and romance blend with force and enterprise. We share the lives of legionaries at Caerleon and Usk; experience the gradual Romanisation of the indigenous people. The spread of Christianity; the emergence of a hierarchical society based on hereditary kingship; the cult of the Saints; castles and aristocratic settlement; cattle ranches (hardwicks); medieval legends and tales; Caerleon as the focus for the world of Arthurian narrative; internecine warfare; William the Conqueror's creation of three great marcher earldoms along the Welsh border; Norman authority clamped down by the later 1090s. All this and much, much more. Engrossing and intriguing!
With many figures, tables, illustrations, notes, bibliographies, and an extensive index, this is a work aiming to inform its readers. It succeeds in this. That it also entertains is an added blessing.
H. G. Alun Hughes
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 ganiatad Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.
|
