![Dewi Alter](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/8190?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Overview
I am an early modernist and literary scholar, specializing in early modern Welsh literature. I am primarily interested in how medieval Welsh/British history is remembered by Welsh writers between 1500 and 1800 and how it is used to define what it means to be Welsh. This was the subject of my book Cof Diwylliannol yng Nghymru'r cyfnod modern cynnar (University of Wales Press, 2025), which argues that cultural memory, expressed in works of Welsh/British history, was used to create and further specific views about Welsh identity.
I am currently working on Robert Owen's essays found in the Vatican Library, which he sent to the Pope and Cardinal Guglielmo Sirleto sometime between 1579 and 1581. The essays are a defence of the journey of King Cadwaladr, a seventh century king of the Britons, whose bones, Owen believed, were recently discovered in St Peter's catacombs in Rome.
Publication
2025
- Alter, D. 2025. Cof diwylliannol yng Nghymru’r cyfnod modern cynnar. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru/ Universitry of Wales Press.
- Alter, D. 2025. Cultural memory and the British Christian past: Drych Y Prif Oesoedd (1740) and Anglican loyalism. The Wordsworth Circle 56 (2), pp.142-161. (10.1086/736248)
- Alter, D. 2025. Welsh historians and the memory of the Mortimers in sixteenth-century Wales. Transactions- Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion 31 , pp.11-25.
2024
- Alter, D. 2024. Darllen y tir yn iawn: mannau'r cof yn drych y prif oesoedd (1716 a 1740). The Welsh History Review 32 (1), pp.98-124. 27. (10.16922/whr.32.1.4)
- Alter, D. 2024. Cerddi cwsg y Ficer Rhys Prichard. Gwerddon 37 , pp.41–61. (10.61257/HEOY7472)
2023
- Alter, D. 2023. Kate Roberts, 'Gorymdaith' a chof diwylliannol. Llên Cymru 46 (1), pp.48-73. (10.16922/lc.46.4)
- Alter, D. 2023. Transnational memory and y ffydd ddi-ffuant. The Welsh History Review 31 (4), pp.519-548. (10.16922/whr.31.4.1)
2022
- Alter, D. 2022. Lle’r Gymraeg yng ngweithiau Charles Edwards. Gwerddon 34 , pp.7–22. (10.61257/BZIY6444)
- Alter, D. 2022. Ailddarganfod ac ail-greu cof diwylliannol yng Nghymru’r cyfnod modern cynnar. PhD Thesis , Cardiff University.
2020
- Alter, D. 2020. Cof Rhanbarthol a Thwf y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd. Y Traethodydd 174 (732), pp.27-36.
Articles
- Alter, D. 2025. Cultural memory and the British Christian past: Drych Y Prif Oesoedd (1740) and Anglican loyalism. The Wordsworth Circle 56 (2), pp.142-161. (10.1086/736248)
- Alter, D. 2025. Welsh historians and the memory of the Mortimers in sixteenth-century Wales. Transactions- Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion 31 , pp.11-25.
- Alter, D. 2024. Darllen y tir yn iawn: mannau'r cof yn drych y prif oesoedd (1716 a 1740). The Welsh History Review 32 (1), pp.98-124. 27. (10.16922/whr.32.1.4)
- Alter, D. 2024. Cerddi cwsg y Ficer Rhys Prichard. Gwerddon 37 , pp.41–61. (10.61257/HEOY7472)
- Alter, D. 2023. Kate Roberts, 'Gorymdaith' a chof diwylliannol. Llên Cymru 46 (1), pp.48-73. (10.16922/lc.46.4)
- Alter, D. 2023. Transnational memory and y ffydd ddi-ffuant. The Welsh History Review 31 (4), pp.519-548. (10.16922/whr.31.4.1)
- Alter, D. 2022. Lle’r Gymraeg yng ngweithiau Charles Edwards. Gwerddon 34 , pp.7–22. (10.61257/BZIY6444)
- Alter, D. 2020. Cof Rhanbarthol a Thwf y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd. Y Traethodydd 174 (732), pp.27-36.
Books
- Alter, D. 2025. Cof diwylliannol yng Nghymru’r cyfnod modern cynnar. Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru/ Universitry of Wales Press.
Thesis
- Alter, D. 2022. Ailddarganfod ac ail-greu cof diwylliannol yng Nghymru’r cyfnod modern cynnar. PhD Thesis , Cardiff University.
Research
- Welsh literature of the early modern period
- Welsh historical writing
- Welsh Catholics
- Welsh saints (especially their reception after 1500)
- Memory Studies
- Welsh identities
- Reception of medieval figures during the early modern period
- Welsh Christian literature
- Kate Roberts
Teaching
I teach broadly in the field of Welsh, and contribute to the following modules:
BA Cymraeg
- Awdur, Testun a Darllenydd
- Herio'r Traddodiad Llenyddol
- Sgiliau Astudio Llenyddiaeth
- Sgiliau Iaith
- Y Gymraeg yn y Gymru Gyfoes
- Y Gymraeg Heddiw
- Blas ar Ymchwil
- Ymchwilio Estynedig
MA Welsh and Celtic Studies
- Exploring Welsh and Celtic Studies
- Special Subject
Biography
Cardiff CF10 1AT
- January 2024 - today: Lecturer in Welsh, Cardiff University
- October 2023 - January 2024: O'Donovan Research Fellow, School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
- April 2023 - September 2023: Research Fellow, Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth University
- July 2022 - October 2023: Research Associate, School of Welsh, Cardiff University
- November 2021 - April 2022: Lecturer in Welsh, Swansea University
Other roles
- September 2024 - present: College Research Associate, Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Education
- 2022 PhD, School of Welsh, Cardiff University
- 2018 MA Welsh and Celtic Studies, School of Welsh, Cardiff University
- 2017 BA Welsh and History and Welsh History, Cardiff University
Honours and awards
2025
- Angharad Dodds John Essay Award (Honorary Society of Cymmrodorion)
2024
- Anthony Whiting Memorial Fund (Emmanuel College, Cambridge)
2023
- Saunders Lewis Memorial Fund
- O'Donovan Fellowship (Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies)
2022
- Postdoctoral Fellowship (Arts and Humanities Research Council)
Professional memberships
Fellow, Higher Education Academy
Associate Lecturer, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol
News articles
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- Memory
- Early Modern history
- Welsh literature
- Welsh history
- Catholic History
