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THE HISTORY OF WALES

History

Before the arrival of the Celts from about 600 BC, Wales was occupied by a number of groups whose presence has been determined archaeologically. From about 4000 BC the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic) peoples of the area began to be replaced by more advanced Neolithic groups from continental Europe. It was these people who built the stone-chambered tombs called cromlechs found notably in Anglesey, southern Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire, the Gower Peninsula, and the Vale of Glamorgan. During the late Neolithic era and early Bronze Age (about 2400 BC), there was a new wave of migrants from continental Europe, who brought copper technology, improved farming, and a distinctive pottery which has given them their name, the Beaker folk. During the late Bronze Age (1400-600 BC) hill-forts were built; 600 have been found in Wales. The country, like the whole of Great Britain south of the Scottish Highlands, was occupied by Brythonic-speaking Celts from about 600 BC, bringing with them Iron Age technology and the Druidic religion. At the time of the first coming of the Romans to Wales in 55 BC, the country was inhabited by the Silures in the south-east, the Demetii in the south-west, the Ordovicii in the north-west, and the Deceangli in the north-east.
After a long struggle, the subjugation of these tribes was completed during the reign (AD 69-79) of the Roman emperor Vespasian. Roman control was maintained from two legionary fortresses at Chester, in England, and Caerleon, linked by 30 smaller fortresses. By AD 120 most of Wales had accepted Roman rule; the Silures received some self-government based at Caerwent; Carmarthen, the only other Roman town in Wales, was the centre of the Demetii. After the collapse of Roman rule in the 400s, Welsh history becomes unclear until the 800s. The Brythonic Celtic inhabitants of England, fleeing before the waves of Anglo-Saxon invasion and settlement from the 6th century, took refuge in the Welsh mountains. Here, they intermarried with their native kin and maintained their independence against the conquerors of England. Welsh had emerged as a distinct daughter language of Brythonic by about 600; the word Cymry ("fellow countryman") was adopted as the name for the speakers of Cymraeg. The country's many small kingdoms eventually merged into four major ones: Gwynedd in the north-west, the dominant kingdom; Powys in the centre; Deheubarth in the south-west; and Morgannwg in the south-east. Offa's Dyke, built during the reign of Offa, King of Mercia, was an earthwork demarcating the boundary of Wales and protecting the border area of England from Welsh attacks.

Subjugation by England

Under the leadership of the kings of Gwynedd, Wales fought off the Vikings. Hywel Dda ("the Good"), who died in 950, codified the laws of Wales and recognized Athelstan, king of England, as his overlord. In 1062-1064 Harold Godwinson (later Harold II) invaded Wales with an English army but his success against Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, king of Gwynedd and overlord of the whole country, was shortlived. William I, the Conqueror, forced recognition of his sovereignty from the Welsh princes, but a great revolt in 1094 drove the Normans from Gwynedd and Powys, and much of Deheubarth. The south coast and the border area, known as the March of Wales, or Welsh Marches, remained under Norman control. Welsh raids on the border area led the early Norman kings of England to establish a number of feudal lordships with very extensive powers, the so-called lords of the Marches. The marcher lords were a turbulent class and a source of trouble to the kings, but they served their purpose in holding the Welsh back. The Norman kings sought to weaken the power of the Welsh kingdoms in the 1200s. The princes of Gwynedd reacted by trying to unite Wales. Llewellyn ap Gruffydd won recognition as prince of Wales in 1267, with authority over the other Welsh rulers. He sided with Simon de Montfort against Henry III, but later acknowledged the overlordship of the king. In 1273, however, he refused to pay homage to the new English king, Edward I, who in 1276 invaded Wales and compelled Llewellyn to submit to humiliating terms, including the surrender of the eastern portion of his lands and the annual acknowledgement of fealty. Llewellyn rebelled in 1282, but was killed in battle. His brother David ap Gruffydd, who carried on the struggle, was captured in 1283 and beheaded. In 1284 Edward I completed the conquest of Wales and, by the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan, it became an English principality. To ensure his control Edward I built a string of powerful castles, including the castles at Harlech, Beaumaris on Anglesey, and Caernarfon. Wales was not united with England. The March continued as a series of lordships, while Llewellyn's territories were divided into the counties of Anglesey, Caernarfon, Meirionydd, Flintshire, Cardiganshire, and Carmarthenshire.

Last Rebellion

Edward I conferred the principality on his oldest surviving son, later Edward II; Edward, who was born in Caernarfon in 1284, was given the title of Prince of Wales in 1301, when he was invested at Lincoln. It has since been the tradition for the first-born son of each English (later British) monarch to be given the title of Prince of Wales. The Welsh national spirit survived English conquest, however. In the following 200 years literature flourished; poets wrote alliterative verse known as cyn ghahedd. Bards kept Welsh oral traditions alive, and towns and trade developed. When Henry IV seized the English throne, a revolt began in Wales, which, under the leadership of Owen Glendower (Welsh, Owain Glyndwr) in 1402, became formidable. Glendower set up a separate parliament for Wales, and although Henry IV's forces led by his son (later Henry V) invaded the country and won several battles, the revolt was not finally suppressed until the death of Glendower in about 1416. Glendower's was the last nationalist uprising and his defeat left the Welsh considerably embittered. The Welsh supported Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) in his pursuit of the English crown, regarding him as their countryman. However, Tudor policy under Henry VII and his successors towards Wales stressed assimilation. The Act of Union of 1536 incorporated the Welsh Marches with England. The former lordships were divided into the counties of Denbighshire, Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire, Breconshire, Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire, and Pembrokeshire, and their inhabitants received all the rights and privileges of English subjects. A second Act of Union in 1543 completed the unification of the rest of Wales, administratively, legally, and politically, with England. Welsh representatives took their seats in Parliament. Customary Welsh laws which differed from those of England were abolished and the use of the Welsh language for official purposes prohibited. The Welsh gentry continued to exercise local authority in the name of the monarch, from whom they held their lands.

Welsh Nationalism

Life for ordinary Welsh people following unification remained hard. In the mountainous heartland the backbone of the economy, until the start of industrialization in the 18th century, was the raising of cattle and sheep, and the production of flannel from wool was an important industry. The owners of large estates flourished, however, and became increasingly English in culture. In time, the anglicization of the gentry created a breach in Welsh society, which was further deepened by religious differences. Slow to adopt Protestantism, the Welsh people were decidedly cool towards the Puritanism of Oliver Cromwell and had to be persuaded by force. In the 18th century they began to lean heavily towards Calvinism, and the growth of Nonconformism, in particular of the Methodist Church, after 1730 was an assertion of Welsh nationalism. Eventually four out of five Welsh people belonged to a Nonconformist church; the chapels were the focus of Welsh culture, education, and politics. The Liberal Party, with its sympathy for Nonconformism, attracted most Welsh votes after the extension of the franchise to working-class men after the 1860s. Welsh Liberals then began pressing for the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales. This was not achieved until 1920, however, when the Church in Wales came into existence. Wales in turn supplied the Liberal Party with one of its most forceful leaders, David Lloyd George.
Welsh nationalism has remained a strong force. Michael D. Jones, who helped set up a self-governing Welsh colony in Patagonia, Argentina, in 1865, is considered the founder of modern Welsh nationalism. The activities of Cymru Fydd ("Young Wales") between 1885 and 1897, and of individuals like Robert Ambrose Jones (also known as Emrys ap Iwan) helped get Welsh included in the school curriculum in Wales in 1889. Plaid Cymru (the Party of Wales) was established in 1925. Its initial concern was with the resurrection of the Welsh language; the number of Welsh speakers had fallen from 55 per cent in 1891 to only 37 per cent in 1931. It remained a peripheral body, however, until 1966, when its first member of parliament was elected. A more generalized concern among the Welsh over the status of their nation led to the establishment of Cardiff as the Welsh capital in 1955, and to the appointment of the first British minister for Welsh Affairs in 1951. In 1964 the office was upgraded to that of secretary of state, and the Welsh Office was based in Cardiff. In 1982 a Welsh-language television channel (S4C) was established, and in 1993 the Welsh Language Act established the principle that in local and central government administration, and in the courts, Welsh and English should be treated on an equal basis. Welsh education is now bilingual in most areas. Plaid Cymru continues to press for Welsh independence, but the last time the issue was put to the whole nation, in a referendum in 1979, Welsh voters rejected an independent assembly by a proportion of four to one.


"Wales," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 97 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights