Cylchgronau Cymru

historians have been happy to support. The attitude seems to be that so long as Scotland can claim to be very different from other countries, the fact that she should be regarded as being distinctive in such unfortunate and unattractive ways is unimportant. This book provides a healthy corrective to such attitudes-a theme taken up by Keith Wrightson in his conclusion: what seems to emerge in many aspects of social development is how close Scotland's experience was to that of England (or the experience of parts of Scotland to parts of England, as both kingdoms were diverse) or other parts of Europe. The emphasis on comparative history puts much in perspective that cannot be fully understood by studying Scotland alone. Publication of the book is a significant part of the emergence of Scotland from a historiographical ghetto, determinedly claiming that her history can and should be studied and analysed alongside that of other nations. But as in politics, the joining of the (historiographical) European community involves some sacrifice of claims to uniqueness. DAVID STEVENSON Aberdeen WALES AND THE TUDOR STATE. GOVERNMENT, RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER, 1543-1603. By J. Gwynfor Jones, University of Wales Press, 1989. Pp. ix, 315. £ 15.95. CLASS, COMMUNITY AND CULTURE IN TUDOR WALES. Edited by J. Gwynfor Jones. University of Wales Press, 1989. Pp. xxi, 300. £ 29.50. The year 1989 was a good one for the study of sixteenth-century Wales. In September the WJEC's new Advanced level course came on stream, with its revised and modernised approach, to be examined for the first time in 1991. The product of years of discussion in examination committees, it is a bold and imaginative reform, though it has its contentious elements. For that tiny minority of teachers in Wales determined to avoid the history of their own country at all costs, it is now possible to undertake two years of Advanced level study without any reference to Wales. But the opportunities for the study of Welsh history in the new scheme should minister to all preferences of period. One of the major changes, entirely to be applauded, is that all pupils will now be required to study some period of European or British history in depth. The university special subject has penetrated the schools. The WJEC syllabus offers two specifically Welsh special subjects, 'Tudor Wales' and 'Wales, 1880-1920'. Of course the popularity of Tudor history in the sixth forms of Welsh schools is well known but, then, the trend in so much school history recently has been towards the study of more modern periods, spurred on by spurious notions of relevance, and genuinely encouraged in Wales by some of the excellent historiography of the last decade or so. Many believed, many feared, that this trend would feed into the new 'A' level choices. To some extent this has been borne out by choice of European and 'England and Wales' subjects of study. In terms of specifically Welsh special subjects it has not been so. The schools' take-up of 'Tudor Wales' has been very encouraging; their interest in 'Wales 1880-1920' has been minimal.