Welsh Journals

recent publications. Naturally, amid so much detail, one or two errors have slipped in, but they are remarkably few in view of the whole, and the University of Wales Press is to be congratulated on producing such an attractive volume. Much of the information appears for the first time in the Welsh language, and the volume can be wholeheartedly recommended for study in our Welsh-medium secondary schools. R. T. PRITCHARD Aberystwyth. GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS: THE GROWTH OF THE WELSH NATION. By Michael Richter. National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1972. Pp. 148. 50p. This book which, without the bibliography and index, first appeared in article form in The National Library of Wales Journal, XVI-XVII (1969-72), covers a very wide field. In addition to considering the life and writings of Giraldus, Dr. Richter discusses the cultural and political divisions of Wales in the twelfth century, and examines the varied influences resulting from Irish, Anglo-Norman and Flemish infiltration and settlement. An analysis of Giraldus's writings for Wales reveals the influence both of Geoffrey of Monmouth and of the legends of Merlin and Arthur, while contemporary pro-Anglo-Norman and pro-Welsh tales are shown to express the deeply felt emotions and longings of those who lived in Wales at that time. The value of this analysis is enhanced by a consideration of the circumstances, aims and ambitions of Giraldus at the time when he wrote the books on Wales. There is also a very revealing examination of the change in Giraldus's ideas, when he became involved in the disputed election to the see of St. David's and on the claim of that bishop to be metropolitan of Wales, a position which would mark him as leader both of the church and the natio. The importance of the see of St. David's in Giraldus's life leads Dr. Richter to consider many aspects of the Roman Catholic and of the Welsh church in the middle ages. The papal claims concerning the canonical election of bishops, the ideas of canonists during the pontificate of Innocent III and the machinery of an episcopal election are clearly described, supplying the background before which the events of the election of Giraldus to St. David's took place. Evidence is marshalled to show that scholars in the middle ages accepted the belief that the church of each natio should be governed by its own metropolitan. Dr. Richter produces evidence to show that a belief in the existence of a distinct Welsh natio was current in the twelfth century and that the Welsh people desired that the bishop of St. David's should be given metropolitan rank. This desire, of both the Welsh princes and the Welsh people, for a church which would go some way toward expressing the demand for an independent natio threatened the power of Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1161), who opposed the claim of Bishop Bernard (d. 1148) for metropolitan rank for St. David's.