Transnational Memory and Y Ffydd Ddi-ffuant

Abstract

This article re-assesses Y Ffydd Ddi-ffuant ['The Unfeigned Faith'] (1667; 1671; 1677), written by Charles Edwards, a seventeenthcentury Welsh Presbyterian. It analyses the first part of the Ffydd, which consists of the history of the Christian faith, as cultural memory for the Welsh people, meaning that it is a past that belongs to them, defines them and is meditated through culture. This cultural memory was transnational and defined the Welsh as a people connected to other nations through a shared Protestant faith. The discussion begins with an outline of key concepts including transnationalism and cultural memory. Following this, the article assesses how the Christianity espoused by Edwards, 'the unfeigned faith', was remembered in a Euro-Mediterranean cultural space by analysing the memory of transnational martyrs from shortly after the Fall to the Reformation. The history of Christianity among the Welsh is also studied as a transnational memory that came to Britain from the Euro-Mediterranean world. The article closes by considering the transnational relationship between the Welsh and the English as outlined in the Ffydd.