Welsh Journals

As would be expected from its author, this is a book of wide-ranging, meticulous scholarship and ripe judgment; it is deftly and imaginatively organised, and written with impressive clarity and elegance. Moreover, although parts of it carry more conviction than others-Part Two, for example, seems distinctly impressionistic at some points-it is original and commendably successful in its approach. By its very nature, it had to be based to a large extent on other scholars' researches and it is probably strongest where existing research has been most intensive, e.g., the institutions of government in Part One, or the treason legislation in Part Three. Nevertheless, much of it derives from the author's own researches, and most of what he has to say on the implications of existing studies for the impact of government upon society is necessarily the fruit of his own thinking on the subject. Inevitably, in a book which tries to do so much, there is scope for disagreement in detail. For example, on p. 67 it is stated that two-thirds of monastic lands had been alienated by 1547, though Professor Youings estimated the figure at rather more than a half. Or again, on p. 141, real wages are said to have fallen by a half, which is quite true; but such a statement makes no mention of the value of wages in kind which formed part of the renumeration of many labourers at this time. Gentry families (p. 286) are discussed in terms of Protestant and Catholic families, as though these were the only two categories into which they fell, without bringing out the large category of 'neuters' in which many-perhaps a majority-of families might be included. But these and others are minor points, and do not diminish the deep gratitude with which this reviewer has received this volume. One final point of particular interest to readers of the Welsh History Review is the author's keen awareness of the value of Welsh history. Not for nothing has he produced first-class work on the Council in the Marches, Tudor Glamorgan, and other Welsh topics. On a number of occasions in this present volume he draws examples and illustrations from Wales which reveal his appreciation of both the differences and the similarities between contemporary England and Wales. He sheds inter- esting light upon, and places securely in context, such a variety of subjects as the Council in the Marches (pp. 92, 238-39, 368), the Essex rising and Wales (p. 128), the cloth trade (p. 156), industry (pp. 158-59), upper- class violence (pp. 220, 236. 240), recusancy (p. 286), the duke of Buckingham (pp. 381, 440), and in particular on the problems of the government of south Wales (pp. 440-43). GLANMOR WILLIAMS Swansea MADOC. THE MAKING OF A MYTH By Gwyn A. Williams. Eyre Methuen, 1979. Pp. 226. £ 8.50. THE SEARCH FOR BEULAH LAND. By Gwyn A. Williams. Croom Helm, 1980. Pp. 190. £ 8.95.. Myths are of the utmost importance in our understanding of the past. A myth is not a lie because it represents what people actually believe, and what people believe to be true is often of greater significance than historical truth. Throughout the ages, myths have fulfilled a role in the lives of oppressed or under-privileged peoples by rendering the past