Introduction

Summary

Picture the early modern North-East Welsh gentleman. Confident of his lineage and dynastic authority, his great hall or plas was adorned with heraldic devices, portraits, and signs of his connections to other gentle families. In his hall or his study, Welsh or Irish harps rested ready for an evening of music and poetry. On these evenings, the bards and musicians would perform for the household and guests, drawn from regionally important families who reciprocated his hospitality in their own residences. The Welsh language could be heard spoken by the family, their tenants, and servants throughout the estate. In his library there were Welsh medieval manuscripts and contemporary verse; the latest tracts, pamphlets, and controversial books; and histories of Wales or of the ancient Britons alongside material popular across Britain on travel, religion, and European history. Alongside the portraits of kin, ancestors, and connections hung those of monarchs. After 1649 the visitor would notice the persistent presence of miniature and full-size paintings of Charles I and his son. If known to be a fellow sympathiser, royalist artefacts may also have been displayed. A number of Prayer Books in Welsh and English sat within the library, and in his private chapel, stained glass, a crucifix, a beautifully carved font, and a railed altar lay ready for a Prayer Book service. This gentleman was a strong supporter of his parish church, providing financial support, concluding bargains over the font stone, owning pews, and burying his dead there as his ancestors had done for generations. Particularly in difficult times, however, his private chapel meant that his own religious preferences could be observed more openly and consistently. This admittedly simplified image depicts the wealthier North-East Welshman at home in his conservative social, religious, and political world. It was a world recognisable in some important respects to his medieval forebears, and demonstrates a striking continuity of ideals and practices.

It was, however, a conservative, traditional world that was torn apart by revolutions and crises. The Civil Wars, Interregnum, and the Glorious Revolution tested the strength of historic bonds of loyalty between people and monarch, church, and neighbour across England and Wales.