Welsh Journals

CEREDIGION CYLCHGRAWN CYMDEITHAS HYNAFIAETHWYR SIR ABERTEIFI JOURNAL OF THE CARDIGANSHIRE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY CYFROL (VOLUME) IV 1960 RHIFYN (NUMBER) I THE OLD FAMILIES OF SOUTH-WEST WALES1 THE study of history occupies considerable prominence in the educational curriculum of the twentieth century. This is not to say that it had been ignored in the past, for nearly all the earliest surviving manuscripts and literary compositions are devoted to historical matters, such as the Old Testament of the Hebrew people, the sagas of the Norse, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the Bruts of the Welsh, and throughout the succeeding centuries history has always formed part of a liberal education. However, there is one way in which our contemporary historical output differs from that of bygone days. Generally speaking, the older works were narrative histories, where events were described and presented in chronological sequence, and apart from recording happenings, usually on a national or dynastic level, there was little effort at specialisation, criticism, or analysis. Today, the approach to historical studies is different. The purely narrative history is considered adequate no longer, the emphasis is on analytical work, on the discovery and discussion of cause and effect, on the origins and development of ideas and movements, on changes and the circumstances that led to them. Inevitably, this approach has given rise to specialisation. Some scholars and societies concentrate on economic history, others on political and constitutional history, on regional and local histories, on minor and major industries, education, religion, architecture, including many other facets of the main theme. Thus we are enabled to recognize the significant factors that have contributed to the sum-total of national experience. "Based on an address delivered to the Society at St. David's College, Lampeter, 8 October 1960.