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The Welsh Wars of Independence: 410-1415
The Welsh Wars of Independence c.410 - c. 1415 (Tempus History of Wales)
306 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2005
13 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
David Moore
632 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 24, 2009
A thoroughly detailed and incredibly readable account of Welsh Independence and the battles and wars fought against many an enemy to keep it. Moore writes in an objective and clear manner guiding the reader through the many complexities of Wales, her leaders, people and politics following the collapse of the Roman Empire through to the loss of the final hold on independence some 872 years later. Moore has managed to show all sides of a very complex and length process that has many twists and turns and is filled with tales of deceipt, betrayal and lies and stories of immense bravery, courage and loyalty to both country and coutrymen.
As a Taffy, I began reading this book with some trepidation but found this to be unfounded as Moore remains impartial and objective throughout, even during the last few chapters where he approaches the issues of the nature, practice and loss of Welsh independence and whether it was ever really viable. I had many a mixed feeling when reading this book as it shows us Welsh in both good and bad light as we fight for our nation with one hand and fight between ourselves with the other. However at times of the greatest need and the biggest odds the nation pulled together and fought hard for our country...much as we do now when the rugby's on, and funnily enough it's against the same old enemy.
Although independence on a political and economic level was lost this book shows that it still remains in the spirit of the Welsh nation. This was summarised beautifully by Rhys ap Gruffudd in 1163 to Henry II in the following quote:
'My lord king, this nation may now be harrased, weakened and decimated by your soldiery, as it has so often been by others in former times; but it will never be totally destroyed by the wrath of man, unless at the same time it is punished by the wrath of God. Whatever else may come to pass, I do not think that on the Day of Direst Judgement any race other than the Welsh, or any other language, will give answer to the Supreme Judge of all for this small corner of the earth.'
On a lighter note: we as a nation can take a number of positives from this book though, firstly while England fell to the Normans in a matter of a few years, it took them over 200 years and a lot of backhanded deceiptfullness to conquer us and secondly in the end we conquered them as Henry Tudor (also known as Henry VII) who began the Tudor dynasty was born in Pembroke and was part of the Royal Welsh Bloodlines and is therefore a Welshman ruled over the whole of Britain. We can also be proud of the fact that Merlin, Arthur and his contempories were also Welsh and were adopted by the English during the Wars of Independence in an effort to remove the strong Welsh identity.
Overall this book is very readable and a great introduction into the complex history of Wales and her people.
As a Taffy, I began reading this book with some trepidation but found this to be unfounded as Moore remains impartial and objective throughout, even during the last few chapters where he approaches the issues of the nature, practice and loss of Welsh independence and whether it was ever really viable. I had many a mixed feeling when reading this book as it shows us Welsh in both good and bad light as we fight for our nation with one hand and fight between ourselves with the other. However at times of the greatest need and the biggest odds the nation pulled together and fought hard for our country...much as we do now when the rugby's on, and funnily enough it's against the same old enemy.
Although independence on a political and economic level was lost this book shows that it still remains in the spirit of the Welsh nation. This was summarised beautifully by Rhys ap Gruffudd in 1163 to Henry II in the following quote:
'My lord king, this nation may now be harrased, weakened and decimated by your soldiery, as it has so often been by others in former times; but it will never be totally destroyed by the wrath of man, unless at the same time it is punished by the wrath of God. Whatever else may come to pass, I do not think that on the Day of Direst Judgement any race other than the Welsh, or any other language, will give answer to the Supreme Judge of all for this small corner of the earth.'
On a lighter note: we as a nation can take a number of positives from this book though, firstly while England fell to the Normans in a matter of a few years, it took them over 200 years and a lot of backhanded deceiptfullness to conquer us and secondly in the end we conquered them as Henry Tudor (also known as Henry VII) who began the Tudor dynasty was born in Pembroke and was part of the Royal Welsh Bloodlines and is therefore a Welshman ruled over the whole of Britain. We can also be proud of the fact that Merlin, Arthur and his contempories were also Welsh and were adopted by the English during the Wars of Independence in an effort to remove the strong Welsh identity.
Overall this book is very readable and a great introduction into the complex history of Wales and her people.
March 31, 2025
The writing style of the author is not engaging, making huge swathes of the book inaccessible. This is further compounded by the lack of identification, or rather interpretation, of a lot of the place names referred to throughout the book.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive, accessible and easy reading tome on this topic, this book is not it.
If you’re looking for a comprehensive, accessible and easy reading tome on this topic, this book is not it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews