Abstract
WELSH EARLY MEDIEVAL LANDSCAPES of authority and assembly have received less attention than they should as a result of a restricted archaeological and written record. Analysis of the location of a 14th-century Pembrokeshire fair charter, however, suggests that the site may also be the location of a hitherto lost 12th-century feast of translation and a pre-Conquest assembly. If so, it presents one of the first examples of an early medieval assembly site in Wales, situated in a landscape setting that lends weight to indications elsewhere in Britain and Ireland of a shared understanding of the spatial expression of early medieval communal interaction and authority.
Abstract
Bayvil dans le “cantref” de Cemais: un site d’assemblée du début du Moyen Âge dans le sud-ouest du pays de Galles? par Rhiannon Comeau
Les premiers cadres naturels de l’autorité et de l’assemblée au pays de Galles à l’époque médiévale n’ont pas reçu l’attention qu’ils méritent, du fait de lacunes en matière d’éléments archéologiques et de sources écrites. Or, l’analyse de l’emplacement d’une charte de foire au 14ème siècle, dans le Pembrokeshire, laisse penser qu’il pourrait aussi s’agir du site qu’on croyait perdu d’une fête de translation datée du 12ème siècle, ainsi que celui d’une assemblée antérieure à la conquête. Si ceci est avéré, ce serait l’un des premiers exemples d’un site d’assemblée au pays de Galles datant du début du Moyen Âge, situé dans un cadre naturel qui tendrait à confirmer les indications trouvées ailleurs, en Grande-Bretagne et en Irlande, d’une compréhension collective de l’expression spatiale des interactions collectives et de l’autorité au début du Moyen Âge.
Abstract
Bayvil in Cemais: eine frühmittelalterliche Versammlungsstätte in Südwest-Wales? von Rhiannon Comeau
Der walisischen Landschaft der Herrschaft und der Versammlungen im Mittelalter wurde bisher wegen eingeschränkter archäologischer Belege und schriftlicher Dokumente weniger Aufmerksamkeit zuteil, als sie verdient hätte. Die Analyse der Stätte einer Marktfreiheit aus dem 14 Jahrhundert in Pembrokeshire lässt jedoch vermuten, dass diese Stätte auch der Standort eines bis dahin verloren geglaubten Festes der Entrückung aus dem 12 Jahrhundert und einer Versammlung vor der Eroberung durch die Normannen gewesen sein könnte. Wenn das so ist, dann ist sie eines der ersten Beispiele für eine frühmittelalterliche Versammlungsstätte in Wales, die zudem in einer landschaftlichen Umgebung liegt, die den an anderer Stelle in Großbritannien und Irland gefundenen Anzeichen Gewicht verleiht, dass es ein allen gemeinsames Verständnis für den räumlichen Ausdruck frühmittelalterlicher gemeinschaftlicher Interaktion und Autorität gegeben hat.
Abstract
Bayvil in Cemais: un sito altomedievale per assemblee nel Galles sudoccidentale? di Rhiannon Comeau
Ai paesaggi altomedievali gallesi investiti di autorità e divenuti luoghi di assemblee si è dedicata meno attenzione di quella che meriterebbero e ciò a causa della limitata documentazione sia scritta che archeologica. Tuttavia l’analisi dell’ubicazione di una fiera nel Pembrokeshire, attestato da un atto di autorizzazione del XIV secolo, indica che il sito potrebbe essere anche l’ubicazione di una celebrazione per la traslazione di reliquie del XII secolo, finora perduta, e di un’assemblea del periodo precedente la conquista normanna. Se così fosse, si tratterebbe di uno dei primi esempi di un sito di assemblee altomedievale nel Galles situato in un paesaggio che darebbe peso alle indicazioni, date altrove in Gran Bretagna e in Irlanda, di una comprensione condivisa dell’espressione spaziale dell’interazione tra comunità e dell’autorità nel periodo altomedievale.
acknowledgements
I am grateful to Andrew Reynolds and Wendy Davies for their helpful comments, to Gwen Awbery, Gareth Bevan and Iwan Wmffre for their assistance with place names, to Anthony Carr, Joanna Cole and David D’Avray for advice on Latin documents, to the referees for their constructive feedback and (last but by no means least) to friends in West Wales for their interest and support. All mistakes and misunderstandings are mine.
Archive Sources
NLW Bron 57 (1469–70); 65 (1381–82); 821 (1427); 950 (1508); 952 (1508); 1031 (1517); 1037 (1520); 1045 (1515); 1367 (1548/9); 7010 (1349)
National Archives PRO IR 29/54/4 and IR 30/54/4
Pembs Rec Land Tax PQ/RT/CE
Notes
1 UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK. [email protected]
15 Brut, 17, 29, 31, 33, in Jones; Nennius 48, in Morris.
25 CIPM, 448–9; NLW Bron 57 (1469–70); Owen Citation1977, 41–3.
28 NLW Bron 7010 (1349), 950 and 952 (1508), 1045 (1515), 1031 (1517), 1037 (1520).
32 Cf NLW Bron 952 (1508), 1037 (1520), 950 (1508), 1045 (1515), 1031 (1517).
33 Charles Citation1992, 28, 31, 136; NLW Bron 57 (1469–70).
39 Land Tax 1811 onwards — Pembs Rec PQ/RT/CE; Meredith Morris Citation1991, 194.
45 NLW Bron 65 (1381–82).
50 Edwards Citation2007, 307, 396–401; Brut, 31, in Jones; Ó Carragáin 2003, 142–3.
61 Bayvil Tithe 53 and 57 (1844) PRO IR 29/54/4 and IR 30/54/4.
64 Charles Citation1992, 27 (1273); this lists a 16th-century derivation as beau + ville.
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