Welsh Journals

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example, of general significance on the advancing pretensions of princely authority in thirteenth-century Gwynedd, with Llywelyn ab lorwerth rather than Llywelyn ap Gruffudd being seen as the real innovator. Whole shafts of new light are cast on Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's struggle with the bishop of St. Asaph: it is argued convincingly that Llywelyn's arguments were not so far out of touch with customary Welsh practices, but that these appeared increasingly anachronistic in a world dominated by canon law and English common law. This reinforces Dr. Pryce's observation (p. 257) that 'native Welsh society was old-fashioned in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, retaining mentalities and practices whose origins no doubt lay in the pre-Norman period'. It is this archaism and increasing anachronism of facets of Welsh law which are part of its fascination. But they are also a reason why the explanation for the changes in Welsh law and, even more so, in Welsh society must increasingly be looked for not only, or even mainly, in the ingenuities of native jurists but in the transforming impact of canon law and English common law, and in the maturing and aggressively self-confident systems and powers which sustained them, not least through the mediation of English lords, settlers and ecclesiastics in Wales. Dr. Pryce declares at the outset of his discussion (p. 10) that 'the pivotal focus is on native Welsh society in the century or so before Edward I's conquest'; but the significance of what he has to say extends much further chronologically than that and much further substantively than the Church. Indeed on occasion-as in his discussion of the immunities claimed by the Church and the prince's rights over ecclesiastical estates-it is a pity that he has not brought the evidence about lay society more clearly into his historical sights. Nevertheless, no one can deny that this is an immensely scholarly book, whose value extends beyond that of its subject matter to the study of Welsh law and indeed of Welsh medieval society generally. Dr. Pryce deserves warm congratulations on its appearance. R. R. DAVIES Aberystwyth SCHOOLS IN WALES 1500-1900: A SOCIAL AND ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY. By Malcolm Seaborne. Gee & Son, Denbigh, 1992. Pp. 273; 32 plates. £ 15.00. Dr. Malcolm Seaborne established a well-deserved reputation as an educational historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Of especial importance were his studies of school architecture which highlighted the value of visual evidence in the study of history. He has now applied his expertise to write a detailed and meticulous social and architectural history of the schools of Wales over four centuries. Over the last two decades, much has been written about various aspects of the educational history of Wales. Legislation, policy making and the history of individual schools have attracted numerous researchers. Much of the work shows that the 'social blindness' which characterized earlier histories of education has been overcome. No longer is the history of education studied in isolation, as if education is little influenced by society in general. But hitherto, the physical evidence-the design and architecture