Announcement...announcement...announcement...

So to preen and swagger and boast for a moment, I've been offered a contract to write a biography of Dafydd ap Gruffudd. There hasn't been one, so far as I know: he tends to appear as an important supporting player, but has never had a bio of his own.

Dafydd is obviously a 'controversial' figure, and digging into his psyche will be an interesting exercise. This morning I read the following snippet by the late Tony Carr:

"Dafydd's role has also given rise to debate; the fact that he changed sides in 1263 and again in 1274 may suggest a lack of loyalty but it is also possible that these changes of allegiance were the result of a fundamental disagreement of an able man with policies which he saw as putting the principality and his inheritance in jeopardy. It is certainly simplistic to see Dafydd as Llywelyn's evil genius."

So has Dafydd been misunderstood? Was he no 'traitor' after all, but a man of long-term vision who saw that Llywelyn was leading Wales straight over a cliff? Interestingly, I also picked up a copy of Martin Johnes' recent book, Wales: England's Colony, and that is pretty much the criticism he aims at Llywelyn.