The Itinerarium Kambrie of Gerald of Wales: An Edition of the First Version

FAIN: FB-54788-10

Michael Faletra
Reed College (Portland, OR 97202-8138)

My project, an edition and translation of the earliest version of Gerald of Wales's 12th-century Latin text Itinerarium Kambrie (The Journey Through Wales), will make this important and rich version available to readers for the first time. As a vehicle for understanding the preconditions of national consciousness and ethnic identity in England and Wales, this version is a vital document which has yet to be fully explored. Providing a distinctive lens on the problems of the native Welsh and conquering Normans, Gerald offers a compelling presentation of medieval colonial identities. Problematically, scholars have relied on a 19th-century edition of the text's third recension, a version Gerald excised to make palatable to his Norman patrons. By making his remarkable original work available, my project will reinvigorate not only literary and historical scholarship on this author, but also discussions about the origins of English colonialism and the difficult birth of the Welsh nation.