This paper is a collection of corrections and related thoughts for Bevil's thesis The Welsh Crwth, Its History and Its Genealogy.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / This thesis concentrates on the role of Welsh noblewomen in the history of Wales in the thirteenth century. Their absence from this history until quite recently is discussed, and several outstanding Welsh noblewomen have been studied in detail. The women studied include the mothers, wives and daughters of the native Welsh rulers of Gwynedd as well as noblewomen from northern Powys, Cydewain, Ceredigion, and so on. One chapter of the work is devoted to the Welsh Laws of Women which, although somewhat archaic by the thirteenth century, were still in use in some parts of Wales and help provide background. Another chapter investigates the evidence for women in the extant literature and poetry of the period. The thesis explores the themes of women’s access to power through the family and also the ability of Welsh noblewomen to take action in their own and their family members’ interests, in the public sphere, when they felt it was necessary. While the later years of the thirteenth century witnessed the final defeat of the Welsh by the Anglo-Normans after more than two hundred years, earlier in the century, Welsh leaders had been able to unite under the leadership of the rulers of Gwynedd and achieve a measure of independence from their oppressors. Welsh noblewomen played an important part in this recovery of Welsh power and their participation in this aspect of Welsh medieval history is also explored. It is clear from the evidence collected that most of the noblewomen studied owned land, in spite of the prohibition against women owning land under native Welsh law. Welsh noblewomen supported their fathers, husbands and sons, and they also took direct action themselves when the need arose.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / This thesis concentrates on the role of Welsh noblewomen in the history of Wales in the thirteenth century. Their absence from this history until quite recently is discussed, and several outstanding Welsh noblewomen have been studied in detail. The women studied include the mothers, wives and daughters of the native Welsh rulers of Gwynedd as well as noblewomen from northern Powys, Cydewain, Ceredigion, and so on. One chapter of the work is devoted to the Welsh Laws of Women which, although somewhat archaic by the thirteenth century, were still in use in some parts of Wales and help provide background. Another chapter investigates the evidence for women in the extant literature and poetry of the period. The thesis explores the themes of women’s access to power through the family and also the ability of Welsh noblewomen to take action in their own and their family members’ interests, in the public sphere, when they felt it was necessary. While the later years of the thirteenth century witnessed the final defeat of the Welsh by the Anglo-Normans after more than two hundred years, earlier in the century, Welsh leaders had been able to unite under the leadership of the rulers of Gwynedd and achieve a measure of independence from their oppressors. Welsh noblewomen played an important part in this recovery of Welsh power and their participation in this aspect of Welsh medieval history is also explored. It is clear from the evidence collected that most of the noblewomen studied owned land, in spite of the prohibition against women owning land under native Welsh law. Welsh noblewomen supported their fathers, husbands and sons, and they also took direct action themselves when the need arose.

This thesis is a study of the prevalence, context, and experience of illegitimacy in Wales during the long eighteenth century, between approximately 1680 and 1800. It explores levels of illegitimacy across the Welsh counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, and investigates many of the underlying causes of childbirth outside of wedlock throughout eighteenth-century Wales. It is argued that Welsh illegitimacy was influenced by a combination of courtship-led marriage customs, a decline in traditional forms of social control, and worsening economic circumstances. In addition to exploring broader demographic trends, this study also examines the diverse individual identities, relationships and socioeconomic backgrounds of the mothers and fathers of illegitimate children in Wales, and the lived experience of conception, pregnancy and childbirth for unmarried mothers. The sexual encounters which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate child ranged from consensual sex which took place within the context of courtship, to sexual exploitation and rape. It is argued that these broad range of experiences are central to our understanding of illegitimacy. This thesis also examines infant and maternal survival chances, both in terms of overall risk of mortality in the days, weeks, and months after birth, and in terms of the ways in which fatal violence against illegitimate children and their mothers was contextualised in court records. These narratives reveal how the bodies of illegitimate infants and unmarried mothers often represented deviance, and served as the locus of anxieties surrounding unregulated reproduction. Finally, this study also analyses the provision of care for married and unmarried pauper women immediately before, during and after parturition. The skills, reputation, and availability of midwifery services in Wales are also explored. This thesis unites many disparate historical fields, including social and cultural history, historical demography, and the histories of crime, gender, sex, reproduction, and medicine, and analyses evidence from previously unstudied regions of Wales. It demonstrates that illegitimacy in eighteenth-century Wales was a deeply complex phenomenon governed by diverse regionally-specific social, cultural and economic influences.

This dissertation explores the complex interactions among written text, language choice, and political context in Wales in the late-eleventh and early-twelfth centuries. I argue that writers in medieval Wales created in both their literary compositions and their manuscripts intricate layers of protest and subversion in direct opposition to the authority of the Anglo-Norman political hegemony and the aggrandizing spread of the Canterbury-led church. These medieval literati exploited language and script as tools of definition. They privileged Welsh or Latin when their audience shifted, and they employed the change from early Insular script to the Caroline script of the Normans as not just a natural evolution in script development, but as a selective representation of mimicked authority. The family of Bishop Sulien at Llanbadarn Fawr has been the focal point of this study, as they were active during a time of Anglo-Norman intervention in their community that is reflected in the shifting script of their manuscripts and the apprehensive though proud tone of their compositions, which include the vitae of saints David and Padarn and the poetry of Ieuan and Rhygyfarch ap Sulien. My work provides a much-needed cohesive portrait of the multilingual medieval Welsh literary culture at the turn of the twelfth century. Questions of audience and authority come into play, particularly when considering the growing hybridity of learned communities during the Anglo-Norman infiltration of Wales. Manuscripts themselves are viewed as vehicles of identity, for the evolution of script and design offers clues as to the methods of compromise practiced by Welsh intellectuals. This compromise in the written word can be viewed as an embodiment of the Welsh desire and need to mediate fraught political boundaries, as they did using both the ‘nation’-defining Welsh language and the vehicular prestige language of Latin, resulting in an intertextual exploration of identity through the act of writing itself. Writing is a critical demonstration of Welsh authorship and agency in medieval Britain, and one that can be used to reflect upon notions of Welsh identity. / Celtic Languages and Literatures

In the early years of the nineteenth century, when bowed string instruments were assumed to have reached the apex of their development, there arose among antiquarians and scholars a widespread interest in tracing the ancestry of the violin and related members of the chordophone family. This task proved to be exceedingly formidable not only because of the enormous amount of often obscure evidence which had to be taken into consideration but also because of the manner in which many items of evidence seemed to contradict each other. The issue is still not resolved to the complete satisfaction of every party concerned. Literally scores of different and often conflicting arguments have been advanced, and it could perhaps be justly said that the only furtherance thus far realized has been that of the confusion rather than the resolution of the issue.

This thesis discusses twentieth century children's fantasy fiction. The writers whose creative output is dealt with include Penelope Lively, Alan Garner, Susan Cooper, Pat O'Shea, Peter Dickinson, T.H.White, Lloyd Alexander and, to a lesser extent, C.S.Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien. These authors have been chosen because their books, whilst being of a broadly similar nature, nevertheless have a sufficient diversity to illustrate well many different important aspects of children's fantasy. Chapter I examines the sources of modern fantasy, presents the attitudes of different authors towards borrowing from traditional sources and their reasons for doing so, and looks at the changing interpretation of myths. Chapter II talks about the presentation of the primary and secondary worlds and the ways in which they interact. It also discusses the characters' attitudes towards magic. Chapter III looks at the presentation of magic, examines the traditional fairy-tale conventions and their implementation in modern fantasies, and discusses the concepts of evil, time, and the laws governing fantasy worlds. Chapter IV deals with the methods of narration and the figure of the narrator. It presents briefly the prevailing plot patterns, discusses the use of different kinds of language, and the ideas of pan-determinism and prophecy. The concluding chapter considers the main subjects and aims of children's fantasy, the reasons why the genre is so popular, and its successes and failures.

A peça radiofônica Under Milk Wood, de Dylan Thomas, nos mostra cenas de um dia na vida dos habitantes da cidadezinha litorânea de Llareggub, no País de Gales. Como galês que sou, residente no Brasil há duas décadas, tenho percebido que apesar de este escritor ser bastante conhecido por aqui, sua obra não é muito estudada nos círculos acadêmicos. Após conduzir uma pesquisa rudimentar no formato de entrevistas feitas a professores e estudantes universitários, concluí que a recepção da obra de Dylan Thomas fica prejudicada devido às amplas diferenças culturais que existem entre o Brasil e o País de Gales. A experiência de uma oficina de leitura de Under Milk Wood mostrou que estudantes brasileiros de literaturas de língua inglesa podem responder muito bem ao texto a partir do momento em que começam a perceber o tom local e o estilo do cenário e das personagens, bem como as particularidades linguísticas. A resposta dos leitores, e a sua fruição da obra, crescem significativamente à medida em que percebem que dominam aspectos históricos e culturais ligados à peça, e também as referências geográficas que fazem a ponte entre o cenário ficcional do vilarejo e as cidadezinhas litorâneas similares do País de Gales da vida real, com os hábitos característicos dos moradores locais. Com base no acima exposto, o objetivo desta dissertação é se constituir um guia de leitura que seja útil para estudantes de literaturas de língua inglesa externos ao Reino Unido, como aqueles que encontrei no Brasil, bem como para tradutores potenciais da peça, ou mesmo para leitores em geral que queiram compreender e usufruir melhor aquilo que a peça Under Milk Wood tem a oferecer. Para melhor acompanhar os leitores neste passeio pela cidade de Llareggub, decidi estruturar o capítulo principal desta dissertação no formato de comentários críticos formados por notas e observações técnicas que visam esclarecer elementos culturais que impedem que o leitor desavisado decodifique certos aspectos da peça. O trabalho vem dividido em três seções. Na primeira são introduzidos os referenciais históricos e geográficos do País de Gales, apresentados a partir da leitura dos reconhecidos historiadores galeses John Davies e Geraint Jenkins. As informações sobre a literatura galesa produzida em língua inglesa se embasam predominantemente em Glyn Jones e Stephen Knight. A segunda seção analisa a estrutura da obra e a terceira apresenta o guia de anotações página a página. A sequência inicia com a apresentação do vilarejo de Llareggub e sua contrapartida nas cidades litorâneas do País de Gales. O guia página a página elucida aspectos culturais relacionados à narrativa, explica expressões coloquiais anglo-galesas e oferece possibilidades de interpretação para certas cenas e situações. / Dylan Thomas’s play for voices Under Milk Wood offers us a glimpse into a day in the lives of the inhabitants of the fictional small Welsh seaside town of Llareggub. Welsh readers identify immediately with the eccentricity of village life and the cultural richness of the characters and setting that embody the spirit of Wales. As a Welshman living in Brazil for the last twenty years I have noticed that, although Dylan Thomas is well known here, his work is rarely studied in academic circles. After conducting a rudimentary research consisting of interviews with professors and university students, I concluded that the work of Dylan Thomas is not easily grasped because of the vast cultural differences between Brazil and Wales. An experimental reading workshop of Under Milk Wood has shown that Brazilian English Literature students respond well to the work when they begin to understand the local tone and style of the setting and characters, including the linguistic peculiarities. Having a better knowledge of the cultural and historical aspects of the play, as well as geographical references for possible locations of the town and parallels with factual settings and habits of native townsfolk, can help readers to better understand and enjoy the work. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to function as a guide for non-English native students of English Literature, such as I have encountered in Brazil, for potential translators of the play, or even for readers in general who wish to reach a better understanding of Under Milk Wood and take more enjoyment from it. In order to accompany the student as a guide through the town of Llareggub I decided to build this thesis in the format of a set of annotated critical comments, consisting of a number of technical observations and notes that aim at elucidating the cultural elements that prevent the otherwise uninformed reader to make his way through the play. The thesis is divided into three sections. In the first part I refer to elements in the history and geography of Wales. As a support for this contextualization chapter I resort to the foremost historians of Wales, John Davies and Geraint Jenkins. For Welsh literature written in English, Glyn Jones and Stephen Knight have been the principal authors researched. The second section discusses the structure of the play with excerpts and a description of the town of Llareggub paralleled historically and geographically with factual seaside towns in Wales. The third section consists of a page by page guide, in the form of explanatory notes, of the play itself. This page by page guide elucidates the cultural aspects of Wales found in the narrative, explains Welsh-English colloquial language used and offers possible interpretations of scenes and situations.

A peça radiofônica Under Milk Wood, de Dylan Thomas, nos mostra cenas de um dia na vida dos habitantes da cidadezinha litorânea de Llareggub, no País de Gales. Como galês que sou, residente no Brasil há duas décadas, tenho percebido que apesar de este escritor ser bastante conhecido por aqui, sua obra não é muito estudada nos círculos acadêmicos. Após conduzir uma pesquisa rudimentar no formato de entrevistas feitas a professores e estudantes universitários, concluí que a recepção da obra de Dylan Thomas fica prejudicada devido às amplas diferenças culturais que existem entre o Brasil e o País de Gales. A experiência de uma oficina de leitura de Under Milk Wood mostrou que estudantes brasileiros de literaturas de língua inglesa podem responder muito bem ao texto a partir do momento em que começam a perceber o tom local e o estilo do cenário e das personagens, bem como as particularidades linguísticas. A resposta dos leitores, e a sua fruição da obra, crescem significativamente à medida em que percebem que dominam aspectos históricos e culturais ligados à peça, e também as referências geográficas que fazem a ponte entre o cenário ficcional do vilarejo e as cidadezinhas litorâneas similares do País de Gales da vida real, com os hábitos característicos dos moradores locais. Com base no acima exposto, o objetivo desta dissertação é se constituir um guia de leitura que seja útil para estudantes de literaturas de língua inglesa externos ao Reino Unido, como aqueles que encontrei no Brasil, bem como para tradutores potenciais da peça, ou mesmo para leitores em geral que queiram compreender e usufruir melhor aquilo que a peça Under Milk Wood tem a oferecer. Para melhor acompanhar os leitores neste passeio pela cidade de Llareggub, decidi estruturar o capítulo principal desta dissertação no formato de comentários críticos formados por notas e observações técnicas que visam esclarecer elementos culturais que impedem que o leitor desavisado decodifique certos aspectos da peça. O trabalho vem dividido em três seções. Na primeira são introduzidos os referenciais históricos e geográficos do País de Gales, apresentados a partir da leitura dos reconhecidos historiadores galeses John Davies e Geraint Jenkins. As informações sobre a literatura galesa produzida em língua inglesa se embasam predominantemente em Glyn Jones e Stephen Knight. A segunda seção analisa a estrutura da obra e a terceira apresenta o guia de anotações página a página. A sequência inicia com a apresentação do vilarejo de Llareggub e sua contrapartida nas cidades litorâneas do País de Gales. O guia página a página elucida aspectos culturais relacionados à narrativa, explica expressões coloquiais anglo-galesas e oferece possibilidades de interpretação para certas cenas e situações. / Dylan Thomas’s play for voices Under Milk Wood offers us a glimpse into a day in the lives of the inhabitants of the fictional small Welsh seaside town of Llareggub. Welsh readers identify immediately with the eccentricity of village life and the cultural richness of the characters and setting that embody the spirit of Wales. As a Welshman living in Brazil for the last twenty years I have noticed that, although Dylan Thomas is well known here, his work is rarely studied in academic circles. After conducting a rudimentary research consisting of interviews with professors and university students, I concluded that the work of Dylan Thomas is not easily grasped because of the vast cultural differences between Brazil and Wales. An experimental reading workshop of Under Milk Wood has shown that Brazilian English Literature students respond well to the work when they begin to understand the local tone and style of the setting and characters, including the linguistic peculiarities. Having a better knowledge of the cultural and historical aspects of the play, as well as geographical references for possible locations of the town and parallels with factual settings and habits of native townsfolk, can help readers to better understand and enjoy the work. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to function as a guide for non-English native students of English Literature, such as I have encountered in Brazil, for potential translators of the play, or even for readers in general who wish to reach a better understanding of Under Milk Wood and take more enjoyment from it. In order to accompany the student as a guide through the town of Llareggub I decided to build this thesis in the format of a set of annotated critical comments, consisting of a number of technical observations and notes that aim at elucidating the cultural elements that prevent the otherwise uninformed reader to make his way through the play. The thesis is divided into three sections. In the first part I refer to elements in the history and geography of Wales. As a support for this contextualization chapter I resort to the foremost historians of Wales, John Davies and Geraint Jenkins. For Welsh literature written in English, Glyn Jones and Stephen Knight have been the principal authors researched. The second section discusses the structure of the play with excerpts and a description of the town of Llareggub paralleled historically and geographically with factual seaside towns in Wales. The third section consists of a page by page guide, in the form of explanatory notes, of the play itself. This page by page guide elucidates the cultural aspects of Wales found in the narrative, explains Welsh-English colloquial language used and offers possible interpretations of scenes and situations.

A peça radiofônica Under Milk Wood, de Dylan Thomas, nos mostra cenas de um dia na vida dos habitantes da cidadezinha litorânea de Llareggub, no País de Gales. Como galês que sou, residente no Brasil há duas décadas, tenho percebido que apesar de este escritor ser bastante conhecido por aqui, sua obra não é muito estudada nos círculos acadêmicos. Após conduzir uma pesquisa rudimentar no formato de entrevistas feitas a professores e estudantes universitários, concluí que a recepção da obra de Dylan Thomas fica prejudicada devido às amplas diferenças culturais que existem entre o Brasil e o País de Gales. A experiência de uma oficina de leitura de Under Milk Wood mostrou que estudantes brasileiros de literaturas de língua inglesa podem responder muito bem ao texto a partir do momento em que começam a perceber o tom local e o estilo do cenário e das personagens, bem como as particularidades linguísticas. A resposta dos leitores, e a sua fruição da obra, crescem significativamente à medida em que percebem que dominam aspectos históricos e culturais ligados à peça, e também as referências geográficas que fazem a ponte entre o cenário ficcional do vilarejo e as cidadezinhas litorâneas similares do País de Gales da vida real, com os hábitos característicos dos moradores locais. Com base no acima exposto, o objetivo desta dissertação é se constituir um guia de leitura que seja útil para estudantes de literaturas de língua inglesa externos ao Reino Unido, como aqueles que encontrei no Brasil, bem como para tradutores potenciais da peça, ou mesmo para leitores em geral que queiram compreender e usufruir melhor aquilo que a peça Under Milk Wood tem a oferecer. Para melhor acompanhar os leitores neste passeio pela cidade de Llareggub, decidi estruturar o capítulo principal desta dissertação no formato de comentários críticos formados por notas e observações técnicas que visam esclarecer elementos culturais que impedem que o leitor desavisado decodifique certos aspectos da peça. O trabalho vem dividido em três seções. Na primeira são introduzidos os referenciais históricos e geográficos do País de Gales, apresentados a partir da leitura dos reconhecidos historiadores galeses John Davies e Geraint Jenkins. As informações sobre a literatura galesa produzida em língua inglesa se embasam predominantemente em Glyn Jones e Stephen Knight. A segunda seção analisa a estrutura da obra e a terceira apresenta o guia de anotações página a página. A sequência inicia com a apresentação do vilarejo de Llareggub e sua contrapartida nas cidades litorâneas do País de Gales. O guia página a página elucida aspectos culturais relacionados à narrativa, explica expressões coloquiais anglo-galesas e oferece possibilidades de interpretação para certas cenas e situações. / Dylan Thomas’s play for voices Under Milk Wood offers us a glimpse into a day in the lives of the inhabitants of the fictional small Welsh seaside town of Llareggub. Welsh readers identify immediately with the eccentricity of village life and the cultural richness of the characters and setting that embody the spirit of Wales. As a Welshman living in Brazil for the last twenty years I have noticed that, although Dylan Thomas is well known here, his work is rarely studied in academic circles. After conducting a rudimentary research consisting of interviews with professors and university students, I concluded that the work of Dylan Thomas is not easily grasped because of the vast cultural differences between Brazil and Wales. An experimental reading workshop of Under Milk Wood has shown that Brazilian English Literature students respond well to the work when they begin to understand the local tone and style of the setting and characters, including the linguistic peculiarities. Having a better knowledge of the cultural and historical aspects of the play, as well as geographical references for possible locations of the town and parallels with factual settings and habits of native townsfolk, can help readers to better understand and enjoy the work. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to function as a guide for non-English native students of English Literature, such as I have encountered in Brazil, for potential translators of the play, or even for readers in general who wish to reach a better understanding of Under Milk Wood and take more enjoyment from it. In order to accompany the student as a guide through the town of Llareggub I decided to build this thesis in the format of a set of annotated critical comments, consisting of a number of technical observations and notes that aim at elucidating the cultural elements that prevent the otherwise uninformed reader to make his way through the play. The thesis is divided into three sections. In the first part I refer to elements in the history and geography of Wales. As a support for this contextualization chapter I resort to the foremost historians of Wales, John Davies and Geraint Jenkins. For Welsh literature written in English, Glyn Jones and Stephen Knight have been the principal authors researched. The second section discusses the structure of the play with excerpts and a description of the town of Llareggub paralleled historically and geographically with factual seaside towns in Wales. The third section consists of a page by page guide, in the form of explanatory notes, of the play itself. This page by page guide elucidates the cultural aspects of Wales found in the narrative, explains Welsh-English colloquial language used and offers possible interpretations of scenes and situations.