Distributed for University of Wales Press
Inventor of Britain
The Work and Legacies of Humphrey Llwyd
The first book-length examination of the influence of Welsh historian and cartographer Humphrey Llwyd.
Humphrey Llwyd (1527–68) was the author of geographical and historical treatises in English, Welsh, and Latin that exerted a profound influence over multiple literary traditions and national visions. His work lies near the roots of both the ideology of the British Empire and post-medieval visions of Welsh history. Llwyd was also the maker of two innovative and historically significant maps that featured in Ortelius’ ground-breaking Theatrum orbis terrarum of 1570. Yet although his impact in the fields of politics, literature, and cartography was immense, and editions of his major writings remain in print, there has never been a book-length study of Llwyd’s works, influence, and intellectual milieu until now.
Inventor of Britain gives Llwyd’s work and influence the serious, interdisciplinary attention they have long deserved. Contributions from scholars in the fields of history, geography, and literary studies cover the full range of Llwyd’s achievements. Composed of eight chapters, with an extensive biographical and critical introduction and an appendix featuring editions of three eulogies dedicated to Llwyd, the book will be instrumental in validating and illuminating his place as a pivotal thinker of his time. The first three chapters, by Pryce, Fulton, and Lilley, examine his achievements and influence as a historian, chorographer, and cartographer, respectively. The following three chapters, by Walsham, Mason, and Hutson, locate Llwyd in relation to international scholarly networks and debates, including the circle of Archbishop Matthew Parker, the long-standing tension between Welsh and Scottish accounts of British antiquity, and debates over the origins and customs of the Picts which would influence conceptions of race within and beyond Britain. The seventh and eighth chapters turn to Llwyd’s influence over English poetry and drama, including major writers such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Fletcher, and Drayton.
Humphrey Llwyd (1527–68) was the author of geographical and historical treatises in English, Welsh, and Latin that exerted a profound influence over multiple literary traditions and national visions. His work lies near the roots of both the ideology of the British Empire and post-medieval visions of Welsh history. Llwyd was also the maker of two innovative and historically significant maps that featured in Ortelius’ ground-breaking Theatrum orbis terrarum of 1570. Yet although his impact in the fields of politics, literature, and cartography was immense, and editions of his major writings remain in print, there has never been a book-length study of Llwyd’s works, influence, and intellectual milieu until now.
Inventor of Britain gives Llwyd’s work and influence the serious, interdisciplinary attention they have long deserved. Contributions from scholars in the fields of history, geography, and literary studies cover the full range of Llwyd’s achievements. Composed of eight chapters, with an extensive biographical and critical introduction and an appendix featuring editions of three eulogies dedicated to Llwyd, the book will be instrumental in validating and illuminating his place as a pivotal thinker of his time. The first three chapters, by Pryce, Fulton, and Lilley, examine his achievements and influence as a historian, chorographer, and cartographer, respectively. The following three chapters, by Walsham, Mason, and Hutson, locate Llwyd in relation to international scholarly networks and debates, including the circle of Archbishop Matthew Parker, the long-standing tension between Welsh and Scottish accounts of British antiquity, and debates over the origins and customs of the Picts which would influence conceptions of race within and beyond Britain. The seventh and eighth chapters turn to Llwyd’s influence over English poetry and drama, including major writers such as Shakespeare, Spenser, Fletcher, and Drayton.
280 pages | 25 halftones | 5.43 x 8.5
Literature and Literary Criticism: British and Irish Literature
Table of Contents
Introduction
1.Humphrey Llwyd: First Historian of Wales?
Huw Pryce
2.The Description of Britain and Urban Chorography on the March of Wales
Helen Fulton
3.‘Set forth in all poynctes’—navigating the maps and mappings of Humphrey Llwyd
Keith Lilley, Rebecca Milligan, and Catherine Porter
4.Matthew Parker, Sacred Geography, and the British Past
Alexandra Walsham
5.The ‘hodgepodge trash of Lud’: George Buchanan on Humphrey Llwyd’s Vision of Britain
Roger Mason
6.Painted People: Race-Making in the Invention of Britain
Lorna Hutson
7.British Warrior Women in Cymbeline, Bonduca and the Court of James VI & I
Tristan Marshall
8.Visions of Britain in Llwyd, Spenser, and Drayton
Philip Schwyzer
Appendix: ‘In praise of Humphrey Llwyd: Poems by Gruffudd Hiraethog, Lewis ab Edward, and Wiliam Cynwal’, with translations by Mary Burdett-Jones
1.Humphrey Llwyd: First Historian of Wales?
Huw Pryce
2.The Description of Britain and Urban Chorography on the March of Wales
Helen Fulton
3.‘Set forth in all poynctes’—navigating the maps and mappings of Humphrey Llwyd
Keith Lilley, Rebecca Milligan, and Catherine Porter
4.Matthew Parker, Sacred Geography, and the British Past
Alexandra Walsham
5.The ‘hodgepodge trash of Lud’: George Buchanan on Humphrey Llwyd’s Vision of Britain
Roger Mason
6.Painted People: Race-Making in the Invention of Britain
Lorna Hutson
7.British Warrior Women in Cymbeline, Bonduca and the Court of James VI & I
Tristan Marshall
8.Visions of Britain in Llwyd, Spenser, and Drayton
Philip Schwyzer
Appendix: ‘In praise of Humphrey Llwyd: Poems by Gruffudd Hiraethog, Lewis ab Edward, and Wiliam Cynwal’, with translations by Mary Burdett-Jones