The History of Ruthin has tackled the Glyndŵr siege rather well. Available from this afternoon from Siop Elfair and the Rhuthun/Ruthin Bookshop and priced as expected at just £9.99*, for me, the way in which the authors treated the AD 1400 rebellion was to be the litmus test as to whether the whole account is worthy of its claim to be *The* [Definitive] History of Ruthin.
The authors state that there is little or no evidence to suggest that Rhuthun/Ruthin was raised to the ground by the Prince of Wales' rebellion. They say that "the alleged burning of the town seems to have been a gross over-statement." This is a significant revision of previous histories that have claimed, wrongly in my own opinion, that the entire town burnt to the ground during September 1400 at the hand of Owain Glyndŵr and to my eyes at any rate suggests that the authors have been nothing if not thorough in their research. If replicated throughout the book, we have a very good product
Other than this very favourable first impression, it's impossible in three hours to have read the 194 pages to come to a more robust view. The chapter on "Ruthin in Modern Times" is all I've absorbed thoroughly so far. It puts the 20th century into context but it was slightly disappointing not to see more critical analysis or explanations among what is generally a *description* of events. It is also possible to challenge a few of the authors' assumptions. And there are a tad too many interjections. But could I do better? No, I could not.
Worthy of a tenner this Christmas. Let's make this a top seller, locally. I'm sure it will be.
*—today, there's just one copy available through Amazon at £9.78, post free
The authors state that there is little or no evidence to suggest that Rhuthun/Ruthin was raised to the ground by the Prince of Wales' rebellion. They say that "the alleged burning of the town seems to have been a gross over-statement." This is a significant revision of previous histories that have claimed, wrongly in my own opinion, that the entire town burnt to the ground during September 1400 at the hand of Owain Glyndŵr and to my eyes at any rate suggests that the authors have been nothing if not thorough in their research. If replicated throughout the book, we have a very good product
Other than this very favourable first impression, it's impossible in three hours to have read the 194 pages to come to a more robust view. The chapter on "Ruthin in Modern Times" is all I've absorbed thoroughly so far. It puts the 20th century into context but it was slightly disappointing not to see more critical analysis or explanations among what is generally a *description* of events. It is also possible to challenge a few of the authors' assumptions. And there are a tad too many interjections. But could I do better? No, I could not.
Worthy of a tenner this Christmas. Let's make this a top seller, locally. I'm sure it will be.
*—today, there's just one copy available through Amazon at £9.78, post free
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History