For many years my concern has been with the history of the border shires and the Welsh marches, and more remotely with their Welsh neighbours. In this book I have tried to provide an introduction to Welsh medieval history which, I hope, may tempt readers to a closer study of a people and an area too often written off as matters of marginal interest. It is true that people turn away from Welsh history because of the unfamiliar personal names and place-names, though they are no more difficult than the German and middle-European names which any serious medieval historian can take for granted. With rare exceptions, I have used Welsh forms of personal names. With place-names I have adopted a familiar compromise, using anglicised forms for many names, especially for such places as Cardiff, Carmarthen and Llandovery, and using some Welsh forms, now in common use, for such places as Conwy, Caernarfon and Cricieth.

I have concentrated on political developments, on the interplay of personal and political ambitions, and on the clash of race and culture which is so characteristic of Wales. The survival of independent princely power in Gwynedd and its eventual overthrow give the thirteenth century a place of special importance, and the war with Edward I and the settlement which followed in 1284 demand close attention. So, too, do the attempts of isolated Welsh leaders to reverse the harsh decisions of the 1280s. By contrast, the decline of Wales in the fifteenth century has been given less prominence.