The book of Llandaf as a historical source
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The book of Llandaf as a historical source
（Studies in Celtic history, 38）
Boydell, 2019
Available at 2 libraries
Note
"The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer"--T.p. verso
Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-197) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Revisionist approach to the question of the authenticity - or not - of the documents in the Book of Llandaf.
Awarded the Francis Jones Prize in Welsh History 2019 by Jesus College Oxford
The early-twelfth-century Book of Llandaf is rightly notorious for its bogus documents - but it also provides valuable information on the earlymedieval history of south-east Wales and the adjacent parts of England. This study focuses on its 159 charters, which purport to date from the fifth century to the eleventh, arguing that most of them are genuine seventh-century and later documents that were adapted and "improved" to impress Rome and Canterbury in the context of Bishop Urban of Llandaf's struggles in 1119-34 against the bishops of St Davids and Hereford and the "invasion" of monks from English houses such as Gloucester and Tewkesbury. After assembling other evidence for the existence of pre-twelfth-century Welsh charters, the author defends the authenticity of most of the Llandaf charters' witness lists, elucidatestheir chronology, and analyses the processes of manipulation and expansion that led to the extant Book of Llandaf. This leads him to reassess the extent to which historians can exploit the rehabilitated charters as an indicator of social and economic change between the seventh and eleventh centuries and as a source for the secular and ecclesiastical history of south-east Wales and western England.
PATRICK SIMS-WILLIAMS is a Fellow of the British Academy; he was formerly Reader in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge and Professor of Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Book of Llandaf and the early Welsh charter
The origin of the Llandaf claims
The charters in the Book of Llandaf: forgeries or recensions?
The authenticity of the witness lists
The integrity of the charters
The chronology of the charters
The status of the donors and recipients of the charters
The fake diplomatic of the Book of Llandaf
The Book of Llandaf: first edition or seventh enlarged revision?
A new approach to the compilation of the Book of Llandaf
The evidence of the doublets
The Book of Llandaf as an indicator of social and economic change
The royal genealogical framework
The episcopal framework
Afterword
Appendix I: Concordance and chart showing the paginal and chronological order of the charters
Appendix II: Maps of grants to bishops
Bibliography
by "Nielsen BookData"