The 3rd Annual ‘Symposium by the Sea’
The Welsh Marches in History and Literature 1050-1550
In memory of Ifor Rowlands
Friday 29 May 2009 (10am – 5.30pm)
Lecture Theatre A, Faraday Building Swansea University
A unique and fascinating hybrid culture developed along the Anglo-Welsh borderlands in the Middle Ages and persisted well after the formal abolition of the Marcher lordships in 1536. The legacy of this culture included splendid castles, churches and monasteries, the establishment of many towns, and a rich corpus of Welsh, French, Latin and English literature. This symposium will be the first of a number of meetings that are intended to bring together all those who are interested in the history and culture of the Marches from their inception to the early modern period, and to place these regions in their broader historical context.
Ifor Rowlands (1944-2008) was a lecturer in medieval history for many years at Swansea University. His areas of expertise included Wales and the Marches, medieval castles, chronicles, and the reign of King John. His colleagues offer this event in his memory.
Carreg Cennen Castle, Carmarthenshire
The Welsh Marches in History and Literature 1050 – 1550: Programme
10am Daniel Power (Swansea): Welcome
10.15: Session One: Women and Marcher society Susan Johns (Bangor): ‘Nest of Deheubarth: reading female power in the historiography of Wales.’ Emma Cavell (Oxford): ‘Noblewomen of the Welsh Marches: the ladies of Fouke le Fitz Waryn.’
11.35: Coffee
11.55: Session Two: The Marches: French and Welsh perspectives Max Lieberman (Cambridge): ‘The medieval marches of Wales and Normandy’ David Stephenson (Bangor): ‘“And he would not prosper with a warband in Powys who could not prosper in that arable land”: Twelfth- and thirteenth-century Powysian perspectives and impact on the March.’
13.15: Lunch
14.15: Session Three: The Marches from the Edwardian Conquest (1282-3) to the Act of Union (1536) Dylan Foster Evans (Cardiff): ‘Poetry and Marcher identity, 1300 – 1550.’ Spencer Dimmock (Swansea): ‘The Welsh Marches and Bristol in an Age of Reconciliation.’
15.35: Tea
15.50: Keynote Paper Ralph Hanna (Oxford): ‘The Matter of Fulk: Romance and History in Fourteenth-Century Shropshire.’
16:50: General Discussion
17.10: Ralph Griffiths (Swansea): Conclusions
Dinner: venue to be determined, Swansea.
** All participants are invited to join an outing to nearby historical sites associated with the Marcher lords and Welsh princes on Saturday 30 May. Please indicate when booking if you wish to take part in this event.
There is no registration fee, but booking in advance is essential. Please contact Mrs Barbara Budge, Department of History, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, by 30 April 2009, to book a place ([email protected]). Lunch and refreshments will be provided @ £10.00 (please send a cheque made payable to “Swansea University History Department”).
For all other inquiries, contact Prof. Daniel Power ([email protected]) until 3 April, and Dr. Deborah Youngs ([email protected]) thereafter, at the Department of History. Directions to the University are available at: http://www.swan.ac.uk/alumniandvisitors/MapsLocation/