Ralph A. Griffiths is a historian and an

emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Swansea University Swansea University ( cy, Prifysgol Abertawe) is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. ...

Life

Griffiths was born and brought up in a mining valley between Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. He attended "one of Wales' good grammar schools and was well taught in most subjects". He is a graduate of the University of Bristol and was appointed to a research post, and then promoted to higher academic positions, at Swansea in 1964. Griffiths was a member, and later chair, of the

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW; cy, Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru; ), established in 1908, is a Welsh Government sponsored body concerned with some aspects of the archaeological, architectur ...

, sat on the Advisory Council on Public Records, and on the Council of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

. In 2001 he delivered the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...

's Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture. In 2004, Griffiths was appointed general editor of the ''Gwent County History'', published in five volumes between 2004 and 2013. In 2021, he was awarded the

Derek Allen Prize The Derek Allen Prize is awarded by the British Academy. It was founded in 1976 to honour Derek Allen, FBA, who was secretary (1969–73) and treasurer (1973–75) of the British Academy. It was established by his widow and sons to recognise outstan ...

for Celtic studies by the

Works

* ''Sir Rhys ap Thomas and his Family: A Study in the Wars of the Roses and Early Tudor Politics'', 2nd edn, with a new introduction, University of Wales Press, 2014. * (ed. with Peter Wakelin), ''Hidden Histories: Discovering the Heritage of Wales'' (Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, 2008) * (with Roger S. Thomas) ''The making of the Tudor dynasty'', 3rd edn. (Stroud: Sutton, 2005) * (ed.), ''The Household Book (1510–51) of Sir Edward Don: An Anglo-Welsh Knight and his Circle'' (Bedford: Buckinghamshire Record Society, 2004) * ''The Short Oxford History of the British Isles: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Ralph Academics of Swansea University 20th-century Welsh historians 21st-century Welsh historians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of the University of Bristol