David Stephenson, . Cardiff: University of Wales Press. 2021, xviii, 142 pp.

A veteran research-fellow at Bangor University here offers a study which may soon be regarded as a minor classic. It is an account of the Clanvowe family and has varied points of interest. First is their rise. They come to attention with Hywel ap Meurig (d. 1281), a native Welshman who established the family fortunes in the mid-Powys region when the power of Llywelyn (d. 1282), Prince of Wales and ruler of Gwynedd, was in decline. Stephenson uses official records (petitions, correspondence, court rolls, lists of office-holders) from government and other archives (together with native genealogies) to show how, by loyal service to Mortimer and Bohun marcher lords, this Welsh family prospered in a turbulent age. Their success is instructive. In the eternal business of getting on and using circumstances to their advantage, they were experts.