Wendy Elizabeth DaviesOBEFBAFSAFLSW (born 1942) is an emeritus professor of history at University College London,England. Her research focuses on rural societies in early medieval Europe,focusing on the regions of Wales,Brittany and Iberia.[1]
She became a professor in 1985 and thereafter became head of the department of history,then dean of the Faculty of Arts,dean of the Faculty of Social &Historical Sciences and,from 1995,UCL Pro-Provost (European Affairs). She was made a fellow of UCL in 1997.[2] She is also a founding fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.[4]
Research
Her teaching originally covered a wide area of European and English medieval history it more recently concentrated on Celtic subjects working across and within the disciplines of history,archaeology and Celtic studies.[citation needed]
She is particularly well known for her studies of early Welsh and Breton history. She is co-director,with Prof. James Graham-Campbell,of the interdisciplinary 'Celtic Inscribed Stones Project',established to build a database of all known early medieval Celtic inscribed stones.[5] For the last twenty years she has also convened a major research group,known as the 'Bucknell Group',with the aim of examining the social significance of early medieval European charters. She is notable for her analysis of the Llandaff Charters.
She has a special interest in the economic and social structure of Western European pre-industrial rural communities and the ways in which they used land and for fifteen years ran,with Dr Grenville Astill,the "East Brittany Survey",a multidisciplinary research programme into settlement and land-use changes. Much of her work has involved collaboration with others and she believes in the importance of fieldwork in teaching and research. Her responsibility for co-ordinating and developing the college's European strategy required her to represent the provost and president both abroad and at home and to advise him on major European higher education trends,maintain the college's membership of European networks and work with to promote the good reputation of UCL. She is particularly concerned that academic qualifications be speedily recognised within Europe.[citation needed]
Awards and honours
In 1988,Davies was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.[6] She was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 1992.[2] In 2001 she was a distinguished visiting professor at Berkeley. She served as a member of council from 2002 to 2003 and vice-president of the British Academy from 2003 to 2005.[2] UCL marked her retirement at a reception on 30 October 2007.[7] She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[8]
Celtic Christianity is a form of Christianity that was common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages. Some writers have described a distinct Celtic Church uniting the Celtic peoples and distinguishing them from adherents of the Roman Church, while others classify Celtic Christianity as a set of distinctive practices occurring in those areas. Varying scholars reject the former notion, but note that there were certain traditions and practices present in both the Irish and British churches that were not seen in the wider Christian world.
Sir John Rhŷs, was a Welsh scholar, fellow of the British Academy, Celticist and the first professor of Celtic at Oxford University.
Athrwys ap Meurig was a prince, and possibly king, of Gwent and Glywysing in Wales. He was the son of King Meurig ap Tewdrig and the father of the later king Morgan ab Athrwys. It is possible he died before his father Meurig and did not live to rule as king himself.
Ergyng was a Welsh kingdom of the sub-Roman and early medieval period, between the 5th and 7th centuries. It was later referred to by the English as Archenfield.
The Book of Llandaff, is the chartulary of the cathedral of Llandaff, a 12th-century compilation of documents relating to the history of the diocese of Llandaff in Wales. It is written primarily in Latin but also contains a significant amount of Old and Middle Welsh names and marginalia.
Saint Oudoceus (Latin) or Euddogwy (Welsh) is generally known as the third Bishop of Llandaff in South Wales. In reality he was probably a 7th-century bishop at Llandeilo Fawr. Wendy Davies puts his episcopal reign between about 650 and 700.
Urban was the first bishop of South East Wales to call himself 'bishop of Llandaff'. He was of a Welsh clerical family and his baptismal name in the Welsh language is given in charter sources as Gwrgan. He Latinised it to the papal name 'Urban'.
Wales in the early Middle Ages covers the time between the Roman departure from Wales c. 383 until the middle of the 11th century. In that time there was a gradual consolidation of power into increasingly hierarchical kingdoms. The end of the early Middle Ages was the time that the Welsh language transitioned from the Primitive Welsh spoken throughout the era into Old Welsh, and the time when the modern England–Wales border would take its near-final form, a line broadly followed by Offa's Dyke, a late eighth-century earthwork. Successful unification into something recognisable as a Welsh state would come in the next era under the descendants of Merfyn Frych.
Sarah Rosamund Irvine Foot, is an English Anglican priest and early medieval historian. She has been Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford since 2007, and Dean of Christ Church, Oxford since 2023.
Charles Patrick Wormald was a British historian born in Neston, Cheshire, son of historian Brian Wormald.
The Cambrian Archaeological Association was founded in 1846 to examine, preserve and illustrate the ancient monuments and remains of the history, language, manners, customs, arts and industries of Wales and the Welsh Marches and to educate the public in such matters. The association's activities include sponsoring lectures, field visits, and study tours; as well as publishing its journal, Archaeologia Cambrensis, and monographs. It also provides grants to support research and publications.
John T. Koch is an American academic, historian and linguist who specializes in Celtic studies, especially prehistory and the early Middle Ages. He is the editor of the five-volume Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopedia. He is perhaps best known as the leading proponent of the Celtic from the West hypothesis.
Raimund Karl is an Austrian archaeologist, Celticist and historian. He is currently a professor of Archaeology and Heritage Management Institute and at the School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology at Bangor University.
A clas was a native Christian church in early medieval Wales. Unlike later Norman monasteries, which were made up of a main religious building supported by several smaller buildings, such as cloisters and kitchens, a clas was normally a single building. The building was run by a community of clergy and headed by an abod. Clasau were autonomous and were administered locally.
The Cantiorix Inscription is a stone grave marker of the early post-Roman era found near Ffestiniog in north Wales and now at the church at Penmachno. It is notable both as the first known historical reference to the Kingdom of Gwynedd, and for its use of the Roman terms for 'citizen' and 'magistrate'.
Julia Catherine Crick, is a British historian, medievalist, and academic. She is Professor of Palaeography and Manuscript Studies at King's College London.
Grenville Astill is a professor in the department of archaeology at the University of Reading. Astill is a specialist in Medieval urbanisation, the medieval countryside and landscape archaeology, monasticism and technology and industry.
Paul J. Fouracre is professor emeritus of medieval history at the University of Manchester. His research interests relate to early medieval history, the history of the Franks, law and custom in medieval societies, charters, hagiography and serf-lord relations in the eleventh century. His recent work on the cost of the liturgy, focusing on the social and economic effects of providing "eternal light", is a study of the interplay between belief and materiality.
Nancy Margaret Edwards, is a British archaeologist and academic, who specialises in medieval archaeology and ecclesiastical history. Since 2008, she has been Professor of Medieval Archaeology at Bangor University.
Cyfeilliog was Bishop of Ergyng and probably Gwent in south-east Wales. He is recorded by the mid-880s in the Llandaff Charters and in 914 he was captured by the Vikings and ransomed by Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons, for 40 pounds. He is probably the author of a cryptogram in the Juvencus Manuscript which would have required a knowledge of Latin and Greek.
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