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AN EARLY WELSH MICROCOSM: STUDIES IN THE LLANDAFF CHARTERS. Royal Historical Society Studies in History Series, no. 9, 1978. Edited by Wendy Davies. Pp. xi, 208. £ 6.75. (Distributed for the Society by Swift Printers (Sales) Ltd., 1/7 Albion Place, London, ECIM 5RE.) The Liber Landavensis has produced some difficult technical problems of diplomatic, and Dr. Wendy Davies has already published a number of important studies dealing with the evolution of the text. She has defined seven stages of editorial work, five of them particularly significant, each of which has left its mark on the body of early charters preserved in the Liber Landavensis. In An Early Welsh Microcosm she starts from two basic assertions: that to 'define different stages of edition allows us to define the existence of an original and early set of texts which were there to be edited', and that the editors of this material 'tended to interpolate rather than re- write'. Much of her earlier work has been concerned with 'establishing the early material with which and on which the editors of the Liber Landavensis worked', and it is sad that she has not been able to bring together all her work on the Llandaff charters in a single substantial volume. (Was that not an enterprise for the University of Wales Press to sponsor ?) In this book she examines the material which she regards as early and authentic and explores its value for the historians of Wales in the Dark Ages. Her study is an essential tool for students of early Welsh history, and the Royal Historical Society is to be congratulated for the decision to publish it. It is not an easy book to use. Dr. Davies brings together the material, consisting mostly of brief clauses drawn from the charters, relating to six major topics: land and land use, a changing pattern of exploitation of land, kings and kingship, social organisation, churches and religious com- munities, and the problem of ecclesiastical authority. Perhaps royal authority is a useful example to show her method and the limitations of her material. She can discuss in detail the succession of kings from the seventh to the eleventh century; she can discern the changing pattern of kingdoms and/or of kingdom names in south-east Wales; and she can indicate a limited, even disappointing, range of uses of royal authority. In the end she 'cannot avoid the impression of lawlessness and of the arbitrary use of royal power by those who held it'. Her discussion of the size of estates named or described in the Llandaff Charters (chapter 3 and 4) is particu- larly valuable. Not surprisingly, in the chapter on the problems of ecclesia- stical authority the nature of her evidence enables her to write a sustained account of her subject. Elsewhere, she is obliged to work with material which does not lend itself to literary presentation. Anyone who has attempted this intensive process of morcellement of charter evidence will know how exacting and how frustrating it can be. There are times when it is an essential technique, and Dr. Davies has applied it with great skill to material which has often proved intractable. In terms of the patterns which can be discerned in south-east Wales and of the problems which can now be analysed with more security, she has made a substantial contribution to the discussion of early Welsh history. DAVID WALKER Swansea