This volume examines the impact of the Tudor political settlement on Wales between the Acts of Union (1536-43) and the Civil Wars. It was in many respects a dynamic age, an era when the creation of the national sovereign state in England deeply affected the political structure of Wales and when the Welsh gentry officially exercised a dominant role in its government and administration.

Welsh national consciousness was at this time deeply affected by 'anglicising' forces, and an increasing number among the gentry gradually withdrew from their traditional duties and obligations in rural communities. It was also the age of Welsh adventurers and professional men, of commercial families, governors, lawyers and politicians in courts of law and parliament, and of pious Puritan fathers.

Despite significant social and economic changes and the material advancement of the gentry, this period saw the survival of the Welsh language and its culture, of older concepts of gentility and many conservative features in the daily life and activity of all ranks in the community.