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Rebecca Thomas

Dr Rebecca Thomas

Lecturer in Medieval History

School of History, Archaeology and Religion

Email
ThomasR165@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29225 12385
Campuses
John Percival Building, Room Room 2.64, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU
cymraeg
Welsh speaking

Overview

I specialize in the history, culture, and literature of medieval Wales. The process of creating Welsh identities in medieval texts is my main research interest, and my book on this subject, History and Identity in Early Medieval Wales, was published by Boydell & Brewer in April 2022. This volume examines the features used as signs of identity in ninth and tenth century Latin and Welsh textuaries, including names, territory, language, and legends of origin. Intertextuality is a crucial theme, and I explore the influence of texts from other parts of Britain and Europe on Welsh strategies of creating identities.

I'm also interested in political and cultural links between Wales and the wider world in the Middle Ages. My research in this area includes a discussion of Welsh royal pilgrimages to Rome in the ninth and tenth centuries, and a study of the Irish Sea connections of the Welsh king Gruffudd ap Cynan (m. 1137). I am currently working on the evidence of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles of welsh-english relations in the eleventh century.

My interest in Welsh identities extends to other periods and I am working on a study of medievalism, identity, and language in twentieth-century Welsh nationalist writing.

Projects

2019-22: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship ('Writing the World of Medieval Wales')

2019: Research Assistant, Vitae Sanctorum Cambriae Project (AHRC project, University of Cambridge and Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies)

Creative Writing

I also write creatively and my medieval historical novel for young adults, Dan Gysgod y Frenhines, was published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch in 2022. My second medieval historical novel for young adults, Y Castell ar y Dŵr, will be published by Gwasg Carreg Gwalch in summer 2023.

In 2022, I was appointed the Welsh Writer in Residence for Bannau Brycheiniog National Park to work on a creative project responding to the nature and climate crises. 

My essay on landscape and place names in south Wales, 'Cribo'r Dragon's Back', won the inaugural O'r Pedwar Gwynt essay prize in 2021. 

Publication

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

Articles

Book sections

Books

Research

My research interests in the field of medieval history include:

  • Connections between Wales and the wider world
  • Identity construction
  • Historical writing and origin legends
  • Language, multilingualism and the translation of Latin texts into the vernacular
  • Intertextuality and scholarly networks
  • Nations and nationalisms

I am also interested in the reception of the medieval past in modern Wales.

Teaching

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I have taught extensively at Cardiff, Bangor, KCL, and Cambridge in the following fields: medieval history (especially Britain and Wales); History in Practice; Welsh identity and culture (medieval and modern); Welsh Language and Literature. I have supervised undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations on topics relating to medieval and modern Wales.

Biography

Academic Positions

2023-present: Lecturer in Medieval History, Cardiff University

2019-23: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Bangor/Cardiff University

2019: Research Assistant, Vitae Sanctorum Cambriae Project (University of Cambridge; University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies)

Education and Qualifications

2019: PhD, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge (funded by an AHRC Full Doctoral Training Partnership Award; honorary Vice-Chancellor awrad (University of Cambridge); St John's College Cambridge scholarship)

2015: MPhil, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge (funded by a St John's College Cambridge scholarship)

2014: BA History, University of Cambridge

Other positions

2014-19: Research Assistant, Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles

2017-18: Teaching Assistant, King's College London

Professional memberships

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Associate Lecturer, Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (cross-university Welsh-medium organisation)

Committees and reviewing

Editor for History, Studia Celtica

Editorial Board Member, Medieval Documentary Cultures (Boydell)