Writing Wales: Welsh Historians and the Search for Welsh Identity, 1970-1997. Name: Lindsay Henderson Degrees: BA (QUT) : BA Honours (First Class) (QUT) School: Humanities and Human Services Centre: Centre for Social Change Research Thesis: Submitted for a PhD Year of Submission: 2007 i Keywords Wales Identity Britain Welsh-English Relationship Historiography ii Abstract This thesis is a study of the way in which Wales and Welshness have been depicted in Welsh general histories published in the period between 1970 and 1997. National identity has been and remains a topical and controversial issue in Wales, due to the complex and multiple nature of the identities that could be classified as ‘national’ identities. Correspondingly, the issue of identity, particularly national and regional identities, has been the subject of considerable study within Wales. These studies have provided considerable insight into the nature of Welsh identity but there remain significant gaps in the overall research picture. This study focuses on one: the way in which Welsh historiography has portrayed Wales and Welshness. The very nature of Welsh history means that such a study must also involve consideration of the impact of England and the relationship between Wales and England on the historiographical depictions of Wales and Welshness. England, as the dominant country in Britain and Wales’ neighbour, has played a major role in shaping both the Welsh historical experience and Welsh identity, facts to which Welsh historians must respond, particularly when writing general histories of their country. This thesis, then, also examines the depiction of the Welsh-English relationship within Welsh national historiography and the way this, in turn, impacted on the way in which the historians portrayed Wales and Welshness. These concepts are very significant for both Welsh historiography and the wider study of Welsh identity. Historical studies, in providing the information for the construction of historically based national identities, are heavily involved in the larger issue of Welsh identity. This study aims to contribute to the research on Welsh identity through the analysis of this specific area of Welsh historiography. In doing iii so, this thesis offers a new way of approaching the complicated and very real issues of understanding Wales, Welshness and the relationship between Wales and England. iv Contents Keywords. i Abstract. ii Abbreviations. v Statement of Ownership. vi Acknowledgements. vii Introduction. 1 Chapter One. Questioning Britain and the Boundaries of the 21 Welsh-English Relationship: 1970-1979. Chapter Two. Arthur Herbert Dodd and Gwynfor Evans: 68 Historiographical Confidence. Chapter Three. A Search for Wales and Welshness: the 1980s. 121 Chapter Four. Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and Gwyn A. Williams: 170 Historiography and the Search For Wales. Chapter Five. Towards Wales or Europe? The 1990s. 229 Chapter Six. J. Graham Jones and John Davies: A New 278 Framework? Conclusion. 335 Bibliography. 343 v Abbreviations and Welsh Terms Abbreviations EC European Community EEC European Economic Community EU European Union SNP Scottish Nationalist Party Welsh Terms Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg Welsh Language Society Gwerin Peasantry/Welsh folk Meibion Glyndwr Sons of Glyndwr (Nationalist supporters of direct action) Plaid Cymru Party of Wales Tynged yr Iaith Fate of the Language (A radio broadcast by Saunders Lewis) Uchelwyr Aristocracy/upper class/nobles Author’s Note There appears to be some historical debate over the use of ‘ab’ or ‘ap’ in relation to Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. This study follows John Davies’ use of ‘ab’. Owain Glyn Dwr’s appellation records similar variations, and this study uses the above form. vi Statement of Authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made. vii Acknowledgements When I began my PhD, I had no idea what I was getting into. Or rather, I knew intellectually, but knowing and understanding are two very different things. Despite the eventual shocked realisation of what a PhD involved, the almost four years that I have spent researching, writing, and rewriting have been an incredibly rewarding learning experience. So thank-you, Gary Ianziti and John Ainsworth, for your supervision, advice and guidance. I really appreciate all the work you have put in to get my PhD and me to this point! I also owe a huge vote of thanks to my family, who have supported me right the way through. Thank-you, Mum and Martti, for everything and, most especially, for always being around. Thanks, Hope, for all the dinners, movies and ice-creams – wonderful stress relief! My grandparents and aunt cheerfully provided me with a home and family away from home during my several trips to Wales for research and conferences. Thanks, all. My trips over would have been considerably more difficult without you! My friends have also been fantastic and have definitely helped to keep me grounded and sane. Your patience has been much appreciated. Thanks, Lisa, Catherine, Merran and Alvin. 1 Introduction Studies of Welsh identity indicate the centrality and influence of England and the complicated and multi-layered nature of identity within Wales. Welsh identity has, in this wide context, been approached from many angles: literature, Britain, religion, industry, and experiential Welshness. Each approach has provided a position from which to explore the ways in which Welsh identity has been constructed, expressed and experienced. History – the study of the Welsh past – has facilitated this examination. Over the last four decades, the field of Welsh history has been widely explored, providing the groundwork for the examination of the construction of aspects of Welsh identity over a considerable period of time. In the late 1990s, the way history was used to depict images of Wales also became a topic of study. This shift towards the analysis of the role of the Welsh historical tradition has played in the construction of Welsh identity opened the door to a historiographical analysis of the topic. Such an analysis would, when placed in the wider context of Welsh identity studies, facilitate a deeper and wider understanding of the identity debate in Wales. This thesis, then, is an effort to analyse the identity debate from the perspective of historiography. In order to do so, this thesis argues that Welsh national history has been built around the framework of the relationship between Wales and England, and expresses the resultant conflict over what, precisely, can be considered to be the identity of Wales and the Welsh people. In order to examine this proposition, I selected, on the basis of three criteria, six history books published between 1970 and 1997 and have analysed the way in which all six portrayed Wales, Welshness and the Welsh-English relationship. To look at the national situation, these books had to address national Welsh history. As 2 national histories address the widest time period available, they enabled me to trace the historiographical depictions of the Welsh-English relationship, Wales and Welshness throughout a variety of periods and events. It is, after all, to events over the entire national history, from nation formation to the present day, to which theoreticians of national identity like Anthony D. Smith refer. According to Anthony D. Smith, a connection with a shared past, a national history, is one of the essential facets of national identity. This shared past can be accessed through myth, popular history, or academic-based history: it is the shared past itself that is significant.1 History provides the outline of the nation: how it was formed, its significant events, and the connections between the people and the geographical territory of a nation.2 This argument was more philosophically reinforced by Ross Poole in his book Nation and Identity.3 National identity, including history had, according to Poole, become a fundamental part of the way we articulate our self.4 History, through its fundamental position in our understanding of our national identity, tied with our national experience of the past to connect us with events that occurred before our life time.5 Nation, national identity and history are, in this interpretation, inextricably intertwined, and demand “…a moral involvement in our nation’s past and its future…”6 History, then, not only facilitates national identity, community and a sense of a shared past but influences the way the claimant of that national identity views the future. Benedict Anderson approached the argument from a slightly different perspective, focusing on the production of a popularly available literature, of which 1 Anthony D. Smith (1991) National Identity. London: Penguin, pp.21-22. 2 Ibid., pp.22-23. 3 Ross Poole (1999) Nation and Identity. London: Routledge. 4 Ibid., p.69. 5 Ibid., pp.72-73. 6 Ibid., p.73. 3 historical works formed a part. Theoretically, Benedict Anderson argued that a nation was an imagined community, made possible by the rise of a combination of print culture and capitalism.7 Print culture facilitated the dominance of a unitary written language within the nation, while capitalism fostered the desire to sell and possess. This combination facilitated the spread within a group of people of an awareness of their status as a nation, rather than simply as a region or locality. Popularly available literature enabled those separated by distance to imagine the other’s life, to realise the commonality they shared, and to feel a mutual sense of belonging to one nation. Historiography, in its widest sense as written history, forms a significant part of this literature, enabling those who read it to feel a connection with a shared past. National history, then, provides a connection with a national past, facilitating the emergence of a national identity.