Wales

Miniature of the Trojan Horse, from John Lydgate’s Troy Book, 1455-62. British Library/Bridgeman Images.

Trojan Wales: The Medieval Afterlife of an Ancient Myth

Following its conquest by the English in 1284, medieval Wales needed a new origin story that established its place in Britain. Were the Welsh descended from Troy?

A hunter with a beaver biting off its testicles. Miniature from the Physiologus, 14th century. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. Public Domain.

Searching for the Soul of the Beaver

Are beavers beasts or fish? For medieval philosophers, this was an important question with implications for the dining table.

William Price of Llantrisant in druidic costume, by A.C. Hemming, 1918. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Archdruid William Price Challenges Funerary Rites

There was no law permitting cremation, but there was no law against it either. On 13 January 1884, a Welsh druid took the matter to trial.

‘The Welsh Rioters’, engraving in The Illustrated London News, 11 February 1843.

The Rebecca Riots: Why Did Wales Rise Up?

Rebecca’s radical rural protests consumed South Wales in the 19th century. Who – or what – was she?

Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1542 and Katherine of Aragon, unknown artist, c.1520.

England’s Monasteries: Gone But Not Forgotten

The Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII is a well-worn tale. Are we getting the whole story?

Bad Dreams

Divining disaster at Aberfan and beyond, in subjects from nocebos to lost cosmonauts.

Boys playing on an abandoned car, Newport, 1974. Robin Weaver/Alamy.

Welsh Enough

A blend of fatalism and hope in 20th century Wales.

Did Britain Ever Have a Revolutionary Moment?

Four historians consider whether the traditional Whig history of Britain, as one of evolutionary political progress, has ever been challenged by events.