Wales

C

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 Llywelyn ab Gruffudd, 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. Llywelyn ab Gruffudd won recognition as Prince of Wales in 1267, with authority over the other Welsh rulers. He made an alliance 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 1277 invaded Wales and compelled Llywelyn to submit to humiliating terms, including the surrender of the eastern portion of his lands and the annual acknowledgement of fealty. Llywelyn rebelled in 1282, but was killed in battle. His brother Dafydd ab Gruffudd, 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, however; the March continued as a series of lordships, while Llywelyn’s territories were divided into the counties of Anglesey, Caernarfon, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Flintshire, and Meirionydd.

D

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 Owain Glyn Dŵr (Owen Glendower) in 1402, became formidable. Owain Glyn Dŵr 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 Owain Glyn Dŵr in about 1416.

Owain Glyn Dŵr’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.

E

Acts of Union

The Act of Union of 1536 incorporated the Welsh Marches with England. The former lordships were divided into the counties of Breconshire, Denbighshire, Glamorganshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, Pembrokeshire, and Radnorshire 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 that 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.

F

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.

G

Nonconformism

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.