Geraint H. Jenkins


Geraint Huw Jenkins, FBA, FLSW was a historian and academic who specialised in the history of Wales. He was Professor of Welsh History at the Aberystwyth University from 1990 to 1993, when he became Director of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. In 2009, he retired from academia and was appointed Professor Emeritus of Welsh History at the University of Wales.

Life and career

Born on 24 January 1946, Jenkins attended grammar school in Aberystwyth and then completed his undergraduate studies at the University College of Wales, Swansea, in 1967. He proceeded to carry out his doctoral studies at Swansea University, also then within the University of Wales, under the direction of Glanmor Williams; his PhD was awarded in 1974. Jenkins lectured at Aberystwyth from 1968; he was promoted to senior lecturer in 1981 and reader in 1988, before being appointed Professor of Welsh History in 1990. In 1993, he was appointed Director of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, serving until 2008; in 2009, he was appointed Emeritus Professor at the University of Wales. He served on the Board of Celtic Studies at the University of Wales from 1985, and chaired the board from 1993 to 2007.
Jenkins was particularly noted for his contribution to the study of Iolo Morganwg and his work in collating and editing the papers of the latter to enable the publication of ''A Rattleskull Genius: The Many Faces of Iolo Morganwg. The book has been described as "a scholarly feast", but a reviewer also warned that "...it must run some risk of satiating the appetite it is designed to whet."
Jenkins died on 7 January 2025, aged 78.

Honours

Jenkins was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2002, and was among the founding fellows of the Learned Society of Wales on its inception in 2010. He received a doctor of letters degree from the University of Wales in 1994.

Selected publications

The Foundations of Modern Wales: Wales 1642–1780, part of the Oxford History of Wales.A Social History of the Welsh Language, 11 vols..The Correspondence of Iolo Morganwg 1770–1826, 3 vols..A Concise History of Wales
  • Cewri’r Bêl-droed yng Nghymru, 1977; Literature, Religion and Society in Wales 1660–1730, 1978
  • Thomas Jones yr Almanaciwr, 1980
  • Hanes Cymru yn Cyfnod Modern Cynnar, 1983, rev. edn 1988
  • Politics and Society in Wales 1840–1922, 1988
  • Llunio Cymru Fodern, 1989
  • The Making of Modern Wales, 1989
  • Cymru Ddoe a Heddiw, 1990
  • Wales Yesterday and Today, 1990
  • Cadw Tŷ mewn Cwmwl Tystion, 1990
  • Protestant Dissenters in Wales 1639–1689, 1992
  • The Illustrated History of the University of Wales, 1993
  • Merêd: Casgliad o’i Ysgrifau, 1995
  • Y Gymraeg yn ei Disgleirdeb, 1997
  • The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution, 1997
  • Cardiganshire in Modern Times, 1998
  • Iaith Carreg fy Aelwyd, 1998
  • Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century, 1998
  • Gwnewch Bopeth yn Gymraeg, 1999
  • Doc Tom: Thomas Richards, 1999Welsh and its Social Domains 1801–1911, 2000Eu Hiaith a Gadwant?, 2000
  • Let's Do Our Best for the Ancient Tongue, 2000
  • Cymru a’r Cymry 2000, 2001
  • From Medieval to Modern Wales, 2004
  • A Rattleskull Genius: the many faces of Iolo Morganwg, 2005
  • Degrees of Influence, 2008
  • Iolo Morganwg y Gweriniaethwr, 2010
  • The Swans Go Up, 2011Yr Elyrch: Dathlu’r Cant, 2012Bard of Liberty: the political radicalism of Iolo Morganwg, 2012
  • Proud to be a Swan: the centenary history of Swansea City FC, 2012
  • The Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century, 2015
  • Y Digymar Iolo Morganwg, 2018
  • Cardiganshire County History: medieval and early modern Cardiganshire, 2019