This is the story of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, the penniless exile who became Wales’s greatest prince. He presided over a turbulent and politically charged period of Welsh history, having to prove himself first on the battlefield before learning the statesman’s craft so as to establish his control over the warring factions of his own country. Ultimately, he presented the Welsh princelings with the most decisive political choice in the nation’s history: accept his lordship or that of a foreign English king. In Roger Turvey’s fascinating study, the first to concentrate exclusively on Llywelyn the Great, we also learn of a generous patron of Welsh culture, the arts and the Church, and of a figure who continues to be a source of inspiration and debate in 21st-century Wales.
