A study of the impact of Renaissance and Reformation scholarship on Welsh society and its leading members. It seeks to show how broadly disseminated was this scholarship in a part of the kingdom of England which was often regarded as remote and backward. In the absence of its own civic and court traditions, Wales depended heavily on English educational institutions. The entry into the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and into the inns of court in London of over 2500 Welsh students between 1540 and 1640 represented a significant commitment to the acquisition of learning. It also made the Welsh the most distinct and also most accepted of the non-English elements at these places. They preserved their separate identity to a marked degree, aided by special patterns of educational endowments. Higher education offered the Welsh student the opportunity to share in a wide experience of Western European intellectual scholarship. It also offered career openings for Welshmen which are examined in some detail. The differences to emerge between north and south Wales are a particular feature of this study, especially in the context of the production of an educated clergy to serve the emergent Reformation Church in Wales. Equally, the manner in which higher learning gave opportunities for careers in England, particularly in the law, is given much greater attention than ever before. Finally, the study recounts the impact of higher learning on patterns of public administration in Wales and on the country's cultural life. The relationship of this learning to the intellectual activities of the gentry, clergy and lawyers is described, especially the growth of bookish interests and the assimilation of these groups into a milieu of `high culture'.
“This is a most scholarly work, very thoroughly researched and well written . . . should be of interest not only to Welsh scholars but to historians of higher education more generally, since in describing the fortunes of Welsh students, he elucidates the complex systems at Oxford, Cambridge and the Inns of Court during a period of radical change. The formal and informal methods of instruction at the universities and the Inns of Court, their social and financial organization and their curricular content are all examined from a great variety of sources and with commendable clarity.” –Journal of Educational Administration and History
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Journal of Educational Administration and History)
“Griffith's book is careful, thorough and informative; it will be valuable for historians of English education as well as for Welsh.” –English Historical Review
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English Historical Review)
“. . . should find an eager readership among teachers of Welsh history and those teachers in English who want to develop a National Curriculum that truely has a British dimension . . . a masterful study . . .” –Teaching History
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Teaching History)
