Cardiff - History

History is a long-established discipline for the development of critical judgement and for the enjoyment of discovering the near and distant past. It confronts its students with primary sources of all kinds - documentary, oral, architectural, artistic, literary and musical - and the secondary analyses of historians of many schools of thought. At Cardiff we offer strong expertise in the histories of Europe and Asia, stretching from Ireland in the Dark Ages to Japan in the twentieth century. We encourage students to investigate different approaches - theoretical and practical - to the problems of understanding historical studies and political and economic systems. Our particular strengths at Cardiff include: the Crusades, medieval and early modern society, modern British and Welsh society and politics, modern European politics (especially Germany, France and Spain), and modern India. There are opportunities for studying the application of computing techniques to historical evidence, for exploring the concept of gender in a variety of different historical periods, and for understanding music and the visual arts in their historical and ideological contexts. Our libraries have a wealth of research and secondary material, and students can have access to the renowned collections and library of the National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff.

Cardiff, as capital city of Wales, is the most appropriate site for the study of Welsh History, and undergraduate courses are available ranging across the centuries from the post-Roman era to the late twentieth century. All courses emphasize not just the concerns of academics with the Welsh past, but also the ways in which that past is reflected upon and presented in wider terms, in what is sometimes called 'public history'. Students who take first year courses in Welsh History thus have an opportunity first to gain a basic familiarity with the major events of the Welsh past, and then to grapple with the presentation of that past through less conventional media including literature, film and museum and heritage sites. 'When was Wales?' was the question asked by former Professor of History at Cardiff, Gwyn A. Williams, and Welsh History, of any period, has to be concerned with questions of nationality and identity, and with Wales' relations with England or the British state in particular. In the early modern and modern periods Welsh history at Cardiff focuses especially on religious history, whilst in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries labour and gender history issues are more prominent. Students need not either be Welsh or Welsh- speaking to study Welsh history: many of our most successful students in recent years have been 'imported', and what is most important is a commitment to this varied and lively subject.

Students within the History and Welsh History section run the History Society, which organises various social events throughout the academic year including the very popular annual History Ball. This and other student and staff societies within the School of History and Archaeology and Cardiff University organise programmes of lectures throughout the year with visiting speakers, which students are encouraged to attend.

The University of Wales maintains a large and attractive country house, Gregynog Hall, near Newtown in mid-Wales, which is mostly used for conferences by staff and students of the University. Every year three-day 'colloquiums' are held there for students in Medieval History and in Welsh History. Students meet there from all the Colleges of the University to socialise and discuss a range of academic topics with guest speakers. 

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