Jemma Bezant (University of Wales Lampeter, UK)

Regions where documentary records appear suddenly as they did in 12th century west Wales are poorly served by a historical narrative that ignores antecedence. A dearth of archaeological excavation has compounded this problem leading to a limited and derivative historical narrative, essentially undervaluing Wales’s part in the history of medieval Europe. This paper is focused on the fragmented transition between the pre and post Norman conquest period in 12th to 13th century Wales and the way that the documentary horizon that appeared with the new administration has driven the historical narrative ever since. A reassessment of the historical evidence and a landscape archaeology approach has challenged the notion that Wales operated on a non-sophisticated, tribal system. The unique and modernising rule of Rhys ap Gruffudd during this turbulent period saw his adoption of many current fashions – stone castles, patronage of the new monastic orders etc, but he used these in subtle ways to embrace customary Welsh practice. This paper proposes that history is a limited discipline concerned only with history as recorded fact. It is only the trans-disciplinary approach taken by archaeologists that is valuable.