In 1688 the North-East Welsh gentleman described in the Introduction to this book was on the brink of an era of further uncertainty. The period 1640 to 1688 included two civil wars, an Interregnum, a Restoration, several significant politico-religious crises, and a revolution. Yet only the years 1685 to 1688 provided a true challenge to the ideals and ideology of the North-East Welsh gentry. Prior to 1685 their own path was clear: royalism, loyalism, and Anglicanism. Even during James II’s attempts to implement religious toleration, their opposition was wavering and reluctant, and ultimately did not end in a firm commitment to William’s invasion.

This book challenges an emphasis on radical religious developments that denied episcopalian or Anglican historical realities. In doing so it overcomes the problems created by that long-lasting historiographical trend: including a failure to explain Welsh royalism or loyalty to the Church of England. The book also addresses the still lingering idea in Welsh historiography that the Welsh gentry were Anglicised and alienated from ‘the people’, and that the Church was similarly remote and unpopular. It relocates the Welsh gentry within Welsh native and conservative culture, and provokes new discussions of the role and behaviour of conservative communities in seventeenth-century Britain.

The book has argued that there were distinctive patterns of continuity within North-East Welsh society. Primary amongst these is the continuance of Welsh historical culture alongside many of the ideals of gentility attached to it, spanning the medieval and early modern periods. While the precise form of the historical artefacts and objects adapted to changing circumstances, the fundamental basis for the operation of power, authority, and identity remained stable throughout. The territorial authority of the gentry, and the associated practical power of kinship, remained strong beyond the period of this study. Ideals of a stable, ordered society, supported by a legitimate monarch and the Church, continued to be the foundation of these structures. The desire for a patriarchal and hierarchical society was common across Western Europe, but in North-East Wales it was rooted in fundamental power structures and ideas. The extent to which lineage and tradition supported the authority of the gentry meant that historical concepts and culture were of enhanced significance within North-East Wales.