The
history of Wales begins with the arrival of human beings to the region thousands of years ago.
NeanderthalThe Neanderthal , or ), also spelled Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. Neanderthals are either classified as a subspecies of humans or as a separate species...
s lived in what is now
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
, or
Cymru in
WelshWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
, at least 230,000 years ago, while
Homo sapiens arrived by about 29,000 years ago. However, continuous habitation by modern humans dates from the period after the end of the last
ice ageThe general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual...
around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the
MesolithicThe Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used...
,
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
, and
Bronze AgeIn Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2700 to 700 BC.-Early Bronze Age , 2700-1500:*2700 BC - 2000 BC: Mount Pleasant Phase, Early Beaker culture: Ireland: copper+arsenic, flat axes, halberds; Britain: copper+tin...
. During the
Iron AgeThe British Iron Age is a conventional name in the archaeology of Great Britain referring to the prehistoric and proto-historic phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding Ireland...
the region, like all of Britain south of the
Firth of ForthThe Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, was dominated by the Celtic Britons and the
British languageBritish or Brythonic was an ancient Brythonic language spoken throughout the island of Britain, south of the Firth of Forth....
. The
RomansAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, who began their
conquest of BritainBy AD 43, the time of the main Roman invasion of Britain, Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire...
in AD 43, first campaigned in what is now northeast Wales in 48 against the
DeceangliThe Deceangli or Deceangi were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles, prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. The tribe lived in north Wales, though it is uncertain whether their territory covered only the modern counties of Flintshire and Denbighshire in the north-east of Wales or...
, and gained total control of the region with their defeat of the
OrdovicesThe Ordovices were one of the Celtic tribes living in Great Britain, before the Roman invasion of Britain. Its tribal lands were located in Wales between the Silures to the south and the Deceangli to the north-east...
in 79. The Romans
departed from BritainThe Roman departure from Britain was completed by 410. The archaeological records of the final decades of Roman rule in Britain show undeniable signs of decay. Urban and villa life had grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the fourth century, pottery shards are not present in levels dating...
in the 5th century, opening the door for the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Thereafter British language and culture began to splinter, and several distinct groups formed. The
Welsh peopleThe Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
were the largest of these groups, and are generally discussed independently of the other surviving
BrythonicThe Brythonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
-speaking peoples after the 11th century.
A number of kingdoms formed in the area now called Wales in the
post-RomanSub-Roman Britain is a term derived from archaeologists' label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity. "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a higher...
period. While the most powerful ruler was acknowledged as
King of the BritonsThe Britons or Brythons were the Celtic-speaking people of what is now England, Wales and southern Scotland, whose ethnic identity is today maintained by the Welsh, Cornish and Bretons...
(later
Tywysog CymruTywysog is Welsh for a ruling Prince or King , which gradually superseded the latter term as a formal title in the High Middle Ages. The feminine form is Tywysoges...
:
Leader or
Prince of Wales), and some rulers extended their control over other Welsh territories and into western
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, none were able to unite Wales for long. Internecine struggles and external pressure from the English and later, the
NormanThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
conquerors of England, led to the Welsh kingdoms coming gradually under the sway of the English crown. In 1282, the death of
Llywelyn the LastLlywelyn ap Gruffydd or Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf —meaning Llywelyn, Our Last Leader—was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England...
led to the conquest of the
Principality of WalesThe Principality of Wales covered the lands ruled by the Prince of Wales directly, and was formally founded in 1216 at the Council of Aberdyfi, and later recognised by the 1218 Treaty of Worcester between Llywelyn the Great and the English Crown...
by King
Edward I of EnglandEdward I , also known as Edward Longshanks, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English Barons. In 1259 he briefly sided with a baronial...
; afterwards, the
heir apparentAn heir apparent is an heir who cannot be displaced from inheriting.An heir presumptive, by contrast, is an heir currently in line to inherit a title, but who could be displaced at any time by certain events.Today these terms most commonly describe heirs to hereditary titles, particularly monarchies...
to the English monarch has borne the title "
Prince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
". The Welsh launched several revolts against English rule, the last significant one being that led by
Owain GlyndŵrOwain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower and also sometimes styled Owain IV of Wales by modern historians, was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welsh person to hold the title Prince of Wales...
in the early 15th century. In the 16th century
Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
, himself of Welsh extraction, passed the Laws in Wales Acts aiming to fully incorporate Wales into the
Kingdom of EnglandThe Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state and island country to the northwest of continental Europe. At its zenith, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands—what is today the legal unit of...
. Under England's authority, Wales became part of the
Kingdom of Great BritainThe Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1801...
in 1707 and then the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
in 1801. Yet, the Welsh retained their language and culture in spite of heavy English dominance. The publication of the extremely significant first
Welsh translation of the BibleParts of the Bible were translated into Welsh before the 15th century, but the first complete translation was the manuscript of Celydd Sfan, and while no exact date for its composition is known, it was in existence by 1470. This was a translation from the Latin Vulgate. Following the English...
by
William MorganWilliam Morgan , was Bishop of Llandaff and of St Asaph, and the translator of the first version of the whole Bible into Welsh from Greek and Hebrew.-Life:...
in 1588 greatly advanced the position of Welsh as a
literary languageA literary language is a register of a language that is used in literary writing. This may also include liturgical writing. The difference between literary and non-literary forms is more marked in some languages than in others...
.
The 18th century saw the beginnings of two changes that would greatly affect Wales, the
Welsh Methodist revivalThe Welsh Methodist revival was an evangelical revival that revitalised Christianity in Wales during the 18th century. Methodist preachers such as Griffith Jones, William Williams and Howell Harris were such powerful speakers that they converted thousands of people back to the church...
, which led the country to turn increasingly
nonconformistNonconformism refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England.- Origins and use :...
in religion, and the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
. During the 19th century southeast Wales in particular experienced rapid industrialisation and a dramatic rise in population as a result of the explosion of the
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
industries. These industries declined in the 20th century, while
nationalistWelsh nationalism refers to a nationalist stance applied to Wales or the ethnic Welsh people. It emphasizes the distinctiveness of Wales in its language, culture, and history...
sentiment and interest in self-determination rose. The
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
replaced the
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the mid 19th century until the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become...
as the dominant political force in the 1940s, while the nationalist party
Plaid CymruPlaid Cymru is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union.Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
gained momentum in the 1960s. In a 1997 referendum Welsh voters approved the
devolutionDevolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a Sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level...
of governmental responsibility to a
National Assembly for WalesThe National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
, which first met in 1999.
Prehistoric Wales
The earliest known human remain discovered in modern-day Wales is a
NeanderthalThe Neanderthal , or ), also spelled Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. Neanderthals are either classified as a subspecies of humans or as a separate species...
jawbone, found at the
Bontnewydd Palaeolithic siteThe Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site is an archaeological site in Wales which has yielded the earliest known remains of Neanderthals in the region. It is located on the River Elwy, near the hamlet of Bontnewydd, Denbighshire.-Paleaolithic site:...
in the valley of the
River ElwyThe River Elwy is a river in North Wales and is a tributary of the River Clwyd. The source of the river is sometimes said to be on the northern flank of Moel Seisiog, south-east of Llanrwst, at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH853593...
in
North WalesNorth Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England.It comprises the island of Anglesey, the Llŷn peninsula and the Snowdonia mountain range, together with the catchments of the Rivers Conwy, Clwyd and Dee with the River Dyfi...
, whose owner lived about 230,000 years ago in the Lower Palaeolithic period. The
Red Lady of PavilandThe Red Lady of Paviland is a fairly complete Upper Paleolithic-era human male skeleton dyed in red ochre, discovered in 1823 by Rev. William Buckland in one of the Paviland limestone caves of the Gower peninsula in south Wales, dating from c29,000 BP....
, a human skeleton dyed in
red ochre, was discovered in 1823 in one of the Paviland
limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geologic record...
caves of the
Gower peninsulaThe Gower Peninsula is a peninsula on the south west coast of Wales, on the north side of the Bristol Channel in the southwest of the historic county of Glamorgan. Referred to colloquially as 'Gower', this was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural...
in
SwanseaSwansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, South Wales. Despite the name, the skeleton is that of a young man who lived about 29,000 years ago at the end of the Upper
PaleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
Period (old
stone ageThe Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which humans widely used stone for toolmaking.Stone tools were made from a variety of different sorts of stone. For example, flint and chert were shaped for use as cutting tools and weapons, while basalt and sandstone were used for ground...
). He is considered to be the oldest known ceremonial burial in
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
. The skeleton was found along with jewellery made from
ivoryIvory is formed from dentine and constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth and narwhal....
and seashellss and a
mammothA mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from...
's skull.
Following the last
ice ageThe general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual...
, Wales became roughly the shape it is today by about 8000 BC and was inhabited by
MesolithicThe Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used...
hunter-gathererA hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild, foraging and hunting without significant recourse to the domestication of either...
s. The earliest farming communities are now believed to date from about 4000 BC, marking the beginning of the
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
period. This period saw the construction of many chambered tombs particularly
dolmenA dolmen is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone . Most date from the early Neolithic period...
s or
cromlechCromlech is a Brythonic word used to describe prehistoric megalithic structures, where crom means "bent" and llech means "flagstone". The term is now virtually obsolete in archæology, but remains in use as a colloquial term for two different types of megalithic monument.In English it usually...
s. The most notable examples of megalithic tombs include
Bryn Celli DduBryn Celli Ddu is a prehistoric site on the Welsh island of Anglesey located near Llanddaniel Fab. Its name is difficult to translate directly but means either 'the mound in the dark grove' or possibly 'the mound in the grove of the deity'...
and
Barclodiad y GawresBarclodiad y Gawres is a Neolithic burial chamber two miles north-west of Aberffraw on the island of Anglesey in North Wales, and on the Anglesey Coastal Path. It is an example of a cruciform passage grave, a notable feature being its decorated stones. It is cared for by the Welsh heritage...
on Anglesey,
Pentre IfanPentre Ifan is the name of an ancient manor in the civil parish of Nevern, in North Pembrokeshire, West Wales. It contains the largest and best preserved neolithic dolmen in Wales.-History:...
in
PembrokeshirePembrokeshire is a county in the southwest of Wales.-Geography:Pembrokeshire is a maritime county, bordered by the sea on three sides, by Ceredigion to the north east and by Carmarthenshire to the east...
, and
Tinkinswood Burial ChamberTinkinswood or its full name Tinkinswood Burial Chamber , also known as Castell Carreg, Llech-y-Filiast and Maes-y-Filiast, is a megalithic burial chamber, built around 6,000 BP , during the Neolithic period, in the Vale of Glamorgan, near Cardiff, Wales.The structure is called a dolmen, which was...
in the
Vale of GlamorganThe Vale of Glamorgan is a county borough in Wales; an exceptionally rich agricultural area, it lies in in the southern part of Glamorgan, south Wales...
.
Metal tools first appeared in Wales about 2500 BC, initially
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
followed by
bronzeBronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminium, or silicon. It was particularly significant in antiquity, giving its name to the Bronze Age...
. The climate during the
Early Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
(c. 2500-1400 BC) is thought to have been warmer than at present, as there are many remains from this period in what are now bleak uplands. The Late Bronze Age (c. 1400-750 BC) saw the development of more advanced bronze implements. Much of the copper for the production of bronze probably came from the copper mine on the
Great OrmeThe Great Orme is a prominent limestone headland on the north coast of Wales situated in Llandudno. It is referred to as Cyngreawdr Fynydd in a poem by the 12th century poet Gwalchmai ap Meilyr...
, where prehistoric mining on a very large scale dates largely from the middle Bronze Age.
The earliest iron implement found in Wales is a sword from
Llyn FawrLlyn Fawr is a lake in South Wales, best known as the site of an important hoard of weapons and tools from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age....
at the head of the
Rhondda ValleyThe River Rhondda is a river in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales which has two major tributaries; the Rhondda Fawr and the Rhondda Fach .- Description :...
, which is thought to date to about 600 BC. The
British Iron AgeThe British Iron Age is a conventional name in the archaeology of Great Britain referring to the prehistoric and proto-historic phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding Ireland...
saw the building of hillforts which are particularly numerous in Wales, examples being
Pen Dinas350px|thumb||Iron Age hillfort NE of the Mynydd Gorddu windfarm, with surrounding sheep pasture.Pen Dinas is the name of a hill south of Aberystwyth on the coast of Ceredigion, Wales, upon which an extensive Iron Age hill fort is situated....
near
AberystwythAberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. It is often colloquially known as Aber, and is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
and Tre'r Ceiri on the Lleyn peninsula. A particularly significant find from this period was made in 1943 at
Llyn Cerrig BachLlyn Cerrig Bach is a small lake in the north-west of the island of Anglesey, Wales. Its main claim to fame is the large hoard of Iron Age materials discovered there in 1942, apparently placed in the lake as votive offerings...
on Anglesey, when the ground was being prepared for the construction of a
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
base. The cache included weapons, shields,
chariotThe chariot is the earliest and simplest type of carriage, used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Chariots were built in Mesopotamia by the Mesopotamians as early as 3000 BC and in China during the 2nd millennium BC. The original chariot was a fast, light, open,...
s along with their fittings and harnesses, and slave chains and tools. Many had been deliberately broken and seem to have been
votive offeringA votive deposit or votive offering is an object left in a sacred place for ritual purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favor with supernatural forces...
s.
Until recently, the prehistory of Wales was portrayed as a series of successive migrations. The present tendency is to stress population continuity; the Encyclopedia of Wales suggests that Wales had received the greater part of its original stock of peoples by c.2000 BC. Recent studies in
population geneticsPopulation research using DNA is initiating research into the genetic history of the British Isles. Genetically, the population native to the British Isles is closely associated with the larger region of Western Europe, and in particular with the European "Atlantic fringe" characterized by Y...
have argued for genetic continuity from the
Upper PaleolithicThe Upper Paleolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia...
,
MesolithicThe Mesolithic or "Middle Stone Age" was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age. The term was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used...
or
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
eras. The introduction of Celtic language in the Bronze Age may have been a result of immigration on a smaller scale.
Wales under the Romans: 48–410
At the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in 43, all peoples in southern Britain were referred to as Britons and spoke the
British languageBritish or Brythonic was an ancient Brythonic language spoken throughout the island of Britain, south of the Firth of Forth....
. The area of modern Wales was divided among a number of tribes, of which the
SiluresThe Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire in south Wales.- Origins :...
in modern south-east Wales and the
OrdovicesThe Ordovices were one of the Celtic tribes living in Great Britain, before the Roman invasion of Britain. Its tribal lands were located in Wales between the Silures to the south and the Deceangli to the north-east...
in central and northwest Wales were the largest and most powerful. These two tribes were the ones who put up the strongest resistance to the Roman invasion.
The first attack on the Celtic tribes of what is now Wales was made under the legate
Publius Ostorius ScapulaPublius Ostorius Scapula was a Roman statesman and general who governed Britain from 47 until his death, and was responsible for the defeat and capture of Caratacus.-Career:...
about 48 AD, five years after the invasion of Britain, led by
Aulus PlautiusAulus Plautius was a Roman politician and general of the mid-1st century. He led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 47.-Career:...
, under
ClaudiusTiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 24 January AD 41 to his death in AD 54...
. Ostorius first attacked the
DeceangliThe Deceangli or Deceangi were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles, prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. The tribe lived in north Wales, though it is uncertain whether their territory covered only the modern counties of Flintshire and Denbighshire in the north-east of Wales or...
in the north-east, who appear to have surrendered with little resistance. He then spent several years campaigning against the
SiluresThe Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire in south Wales.- Origins :...
and the
OrdovicesThe Ordovices were one of the Celtic tribes living in Great Britain, before the Roman invasion of Britain. Its tribal lands were located in Wales between the Silures to the south and the Deceangli to the north-east...
. Their resistance was led by
CaratacusCaratacus was a historical British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest...
, who had fled what is now southeast England when it was conquered by the Romans. He first led the Silures, then moved to the territory of the Ordovices, where he was defeated by Ostorius in 51 AD. Caratacus fled to the
BrigantesThe Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of Northern England and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom was known as Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
, whose queen handed him over to the Romans.
The
SiluresThe Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire in south Wales.- Origins :...
were not subdued, however, and waged effective guerilla warfare against the Roman forces. Ostorius died with this tribe still unconquered; after his death they won a victory over the Roman
Second Augusta LegionLegio secunda Augusta , was a Roman legion, levied by Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus in 43 BC, and still operative in Britannia in 4th century...
. There were no further attempts to extend Roman control in Wales until the governorship of Caius Suetonius Paulinus, who attacked further north and captured the island of
AngleseyThe Isle of Anglesey , is an island and county off the northwest coast of Wales, with a predominantly Welsh-speaking population. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges spanning the Menai Strait: the original Menai Suspension Bridge , designed by Thomas Telford in 1826; and the newer...
in 60 or 61 AD. However he was forced to abandon the offensive to meet the threat from the rebellion of Boadicea. The Silures were eventually subdued by
Sextus Julius FrontinusSextus Julius Frontinus was one of the most distinguished Roman aristocrats of the late first century AD, but is best known to the post-Classical world as an author of technical treatises, especially one dealing with the aqueducts of Rome....
in a series of campaigns ending about 78 AD. His successor
Gnaeus Julius AgricolaGnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. His biography, the De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, and is the source for most of what is known about him.- Early life...
subdued the Ordovices and recaptured Anglesey by the beginning of 79 AD.
Under Roman influence a Romano-British culture arose. The Romans occupied the whole of the area now known as Wales, where they built
Roman roadThe Roman roads were essential for the growth of the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate news. The Roman road system spanned more than 250,000 miles of roads, including more than 50,000 miles of paved roads...
s and Roman forts, mined
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
and conducted commerce, but their interest in the area was limited because of the difficult geography and shortage of flat agricultural land. Most of the Roman remains of
Roman Wales- Pre Roman Wales :Up to and during the Roman occupation of Britain, the native inhabitants of Iron Age Britain spoke Brythonic languages and were regarded as Britons...
are military in nature. The area was controlled by
Roman legionThe Roman legion is a term that can apply both as a translation of legio to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly , to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the...
ary bases at
DevaDeva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia. The settlement evolved into Chester, the county town of Cheshire, England...
(
ChesterChester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
) and
IscaIsca Augusta was a Roman legionary fortress and settlement, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day village of Caerleon on the northern outskirts of the city of Newport in South Wales.-Name:...
(
CaerleonCaerleon is a suburban village and community, situated on the River Usk in the northern outskirts of the city of Newport, South Wales.It is a site of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress and an Iron Age hill fort...
), with roads linking these bases to auxiliary forts such as
SegontiumSegontium is a Roman fort for a Roman auxiliary force, located on the outskirts of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, north Wales.It probably takes its name from the nearby River Seiont, and may be related to the Segontiaci, a British tribe mentioned by Julius Caesar. The fort was founded by Agricola in 77 or...
(
CaernarfonCaernarfon is a royal town in Gwynedd, northwest Wales....
) and
MoridunumMoridunum was a Roman fort and town in the Roman province of Britannia. Today it is known as Carmarthen, located in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire .-Fort:...
(
CarmarthenCarmarthen is a community and the county town of Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy and lays claim to being the oldest town in Wales. In 2001, the combined population of the town's three wards was 13,760....
). Romans are only known to have founded one town in Wales,
Venta SilurumVenta Silurum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia . Today it consists of remains in the village of Caerwent in Monmouthshire, south east Wales. Much of it has been archaeologically excavated and is on display to the public....
(
CaerwentCaerwent is a village and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, located about 5 miles west of Chepstow and 11 miles east of Newport. It is famous for its Roman remains....
), although the fort at Moridunum (Carmarthen) was later superseded by a civilian settlement. The modern day country of Wales is thought to have been part of the Roman province of
Britannia SuperiorBritannia Superior was one of the provinces of Roman Britain created around 197 AD by the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus immediately after winning a civil war against Clodius Albinus. They fought the war to determine who was the next emperor of Rome. Albinus was the governor of Britannia during...
and later of the province of
Britannia PrimaBritannia Prima was one of the provinces of Roman Britain in existence by c. 312 AD. It was probably created as part of the administrative reforms of the Roman Emperor Diocletian after the defeat of the usurper Allectus by Constantius Chlorus in 296 AD. In the 3rd century, the Romans created...
, which also included the
West CountryThe West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Post-Roman Wales and the Age of the Saints: 411–700
When the Roman garrison of Britain was withdrawn in 410, the various British states were left self-governing. Evidence for a continuing Roman influence after the departure of the
Roman legionThe Roman legion is a term that can apply both as a translation of legio to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly , to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the...
s is provided by an inscribed stone from
GwyneddGwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
dated between the late 5th century and mid 6th century commemorating a certain Cantiorix who was described as a citizen (
cives) of Gwynedd and a cousin of Maglos the
magistrateA magistrate is a judicial officer; in ancient Rome, the word magistratus denoted one of the highest government officers with judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a magistrate has limited law enforcement and administration authority...
(
magistratus). There was considerable
IrishThe Irish people are a Western European ethnic group who originate in Ireland, in north western Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolgs, Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians The Irish...
colonization in Dyfed in south-west Wales, where there are many stones with
OghamOgham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to represent the Old Irish language, and occasionally the Brythonic ancestor of Welsh...
inscriptions. Wales had become
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
, and the "age of the saints" (approximately 500–700) was marked by the establishment of monastic settlements throughout the country, by religious leaders such as
Saint DavidSaint David was a church official; he was later regarded as a saint and as the patron saint of Wales. In contrast with the other national patron saints of the British Isles, Saints George, Andrew and Patrick, David is a native of the country of which he is patron saint, and a relatively large...
,
IlltudIlltud , was a Welsh saint, founder and abbot of Llanilltud Fawr in the Welsh county of Glamorgan...
and
TeiloSaint Teilo was a leader of the Celtic Christian church in Wales during the 6th century. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown but Penally in Pembrokeshire is considered his birthplace....
.
One of the reasons for the Roman withdrawal was the pressure put upon the empire's military resources by the incursion of barbarian tribes from the east. These tribes, including the
AnglesThe Angles is a modern English word for a Germanic-speaking people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
and
SaxonsThe Saxons were a confederation of Old Germanic tribes. Their modern-day descendants in Lower Saxony and Westphalia and other German states are considered ethnic Germans ; those in the eastern Netherlands are considered to be ethnic Dutch; those in north...
, who later became the English, were unable to make inroads into Wales except possibly along the Severn Valley as far as
LlanidloesLlanidloes is a town in Powys, within the historic county boundaries of Montgomeryshire , Mid Wales.It is the first town on the River Severn . The town's Member of Parliament since 1997 has been the Liberal Democrat, Lembit Opik, for the constituency of Montgomeryshire.- Surroundings :The town is...
. However they gradually conquered eastern and southern Britain. At the
Battle of ChesterThe Battle of Chester , is generally agreed to have taken place in 616, as first argued by Charles Plummer, although near contemporary annals give a variety of dates. It was fought between the Northumbrians of King Æthelfrith and a number of northern ancient British kingdoms, certainly including...
in 616, the forces of Powys and other British kingdoms were defeated by the Northumbrians under
ÆthelfrithÆthelfrith was King of Bernicia from c. 593 until c. 616; he was also, beginning c. 604, the first Bernician king to also rule Deira, to the south of Bernicia. Since Deira and Bernicia were the two basic components of what would later be defined as Northumbria, Æthelfrith can be considered, in...
, with king
Selyf ap CynanSelyf ap Cynan or Selyf Sarffgadau appears in Old Welsh genealogies as an early 7th century King of Powys, the son of Cynan Garwyn....
among the dead. It has been suggested that this battle finally severed the land connection between Wales and the kingdoms of the
Hen OgleddYr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term used by scholars to refer to those parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the years between 500 and the Viking invasions of c. 800, with particular interest in the Brythonic-speaking peoples who lived there.The term is derived from heroic...
("Old North"), the Brythonic-speaking regions of what is now southern
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and
northern EnglandNorthern England, also known as the North of England, or simply The North is a cultural region or identity of England in the United Kingdom. It is not a government administrative region, but rather an amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the...
, including
RhegedRheged [Welsh IPA: r̥ɛgɛd] is described in poetic sources as one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the Brythonic-speaking region of what is now northern England and southern Scotland, during the Early Middle Ages...
,
StrathclydeStrathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud was one of the kingdoms of the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, through the post-Roman period and the Middle Ages...
,
ElmetElmet was an independent Celtic kingdom covering a broad area of what later became the West Riding of Yorkshire during the Early Middle Ages, between approximately the 5th century and early 7th century AD . Although its precise boundaries are unclear, it appears to have been bordered by the River...
and
GododdinThe Gododdin were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britain in the sub-Roman period, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North...
, where Old Welsh was also spoken. From the 8th century on, Wales was by far the largest of the three remnant
BrythonThe Britons were the Celtic people living in Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
ic areas in Britain, the other two being the Hen Ogledd and
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
.
Wales was divided into a number of separate kingdoms, the largest of these being
GwyneddGwynedd is one of several Welsh successor states that emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain. It was based on the former Brythonic tribal lands of the Ordovices, Gangani, and the Deceangli which were collectively known as Venedotia in late Romano-British documents...
in northwest Wales and
Powys
in east Wales. Gwynedd was the most powerful of these kingdoms in the 6th century and 7th century, under rulers such as Maelgwn Gwynedd (died 547) and
Cadwallon ap CadfanCadwallon ap Cadfan was the King of Gwynedd from around 625 until his death in battle. The son and successor of Cadfan ap Iago, he is best remembered as the King of the Britons who devastated Northumbria, defeating and killing its king, Edwin, prior to his own death in battle against Oswald of...
(died 634/5) who in alliance with
Penda of MerciaPenda was a 7th-century King of Mercia, a kingdom in what is today the English Midlands. A pagan at a time when Christianity was taking hold in many of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Penda participated in the defeat of the powerful Northumbrian king Edwin at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633...
was able to lead his armies as far as
NorthumbriaNorthumbria or Northhumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now north-east England and southern Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory: the Humber...
and control it for a period. Following Cadwallon's death in battle the following year, his successor
Cadafael ap CynfeddwCadafael ap Cynfeddw was King of Gwynedd . He came to the throne when his predecessor, King Cadwallon ap Cadfan, was killed in battle, and his primary notability is in having gained the disrespectful sobriquet Cadafael Cadomedd .Unusual for the era, King Cadafael was not a member of one the...
also allied himself with Penda against Northumbria but thereafter Gwynedd, like the other Welsh kingdoms, was mainly engaged in defensive warfare against the growing power of
MerciaMercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
.
Early Medieval Wales: 700–1066
see also 11th Century Gwynedd
Powys
as the easternmost of the major kingdoms of Wales came under the most pressure from the English in
CheshireCheshire ; also known, archaically, as the County of Chester) is a ceremonial county in North West England. The traditional county town is the city of Chester, although Cheshire's largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Widnes, Runcorn, Macclesfield,...
,
ShropshireShropshire , alternatively known as Salop or abbreviated, in print only, Shrops, is a county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Wales to the west. Shropshire is one of England's most rural and sparsely populated counties with a population density of 91/km²...
and
HerefordshireHerefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. It also forms a unitary district known as the County of Herefordshire. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the southeast, and...
. This kingdom originally extended east into areas now in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and its ancient capital,
PengwernPengwern was a Brythonic settlement of sub-Roman Britain situated in what is now the English county of Shropshire, adjoining the modern Welsh border. It is generally regarded as being the early seat of the kings of Powys before its establishment at Mathrafal, further west, but the theory that it...
, has been variously identified as modern
ShrewsburyShrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is home to 70,689 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
or a site north of
BaschurchBaschurch is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It lies in North Shropshire, north of Shrewsbury. Population: 1,475 . The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-east, Oswestry to the north-west, and Wem to the north-east. Baschurch is twinned with the town of Giat...
. These areas were lost to the kingdom of
MerciaMercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
. The construction of the earthwork known as
Offa's DykeOffa's Dyke is a massive linear earthwork, roughly following some of the current border between England and Wales. In places, it is up to 65 feet wide and 8 feet high. In the 8th century it formed some kind of delineation between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys...
(usually attributed to
OffaOffa may refer to:Two kings of the Angles, which are often confused:*Offa of Angel , on the continent*Offa of Mercia , in Great BritainA king of Essex:*Offa of Essex A town in Nigeria:* Offa, Nigeria...
, King of
MerciaMercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
in the 8th century) may have marked an agreed border.
For a single man to rule the whole country during this period was rare. This is often ascribed to the inheritance system practised in Wales. All sons received an equal share of their father's property (including illegitimate sons), resulting in the division of territories. However, the
Welsh lawWelsh law, the law of Wales, was traditionally first codified by Hywel Dda during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales. In Welsh it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel...
s prescribe this system of division for land in general, not for kingdoms, where there is provision for an
edling (or heir) to the kingdom to be chosen, usually by the king. Any son, legitimate or illegitimate, could be chosen as edling and there were frequently disappointed candidates prepared to challenge the chosen heir.
The first to rule a considerable part of Wales was Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri The Great), originally king of
GwyneddGwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
during the 9th century, who was able to extend his rule to
PowysPowys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire, and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,196 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
and
CeredigionCeredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. In extent it is more or less identical to the historic county of Cardiganshire, and it was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later.- Geography :...
. On his death his realms were divided between his sons. Rhodri's grandson,
Hywel DdaHywel Dda , was a well-thought-of king of Deheubarth in south-west Wales, who, using his cunning, eventually came to rule Wales from Prestatyn to Pembroke. As a descendant of Rhodri Mawr through his father Cadell, Hywel was a member of the Dinefwr branch of the dynasty and is also named Hywel ap...
(Hywel the Good), formed the kingdom of
Deheubarth
by joining smaller kingdoms in the southwest and had extended his rule to most of Wales by 942. He is traditionally associated with the codification of
Welsh lawWelsh law, the law of Wales, was traditionally first codified by Hywel Dda during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales. In Welsh it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel...
at a council which he called at
WhitlandWhitland is a small town in Carmarthenshire, south-west Wales, lying on the River Tâf...
, the laws from then on usually being called the "Laws of Hywel". Hywel followed a policy of peace with the English. On his death in 949 his sons were able to keep control of
Deheubarth
but lost
GwyneddGwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
to the traditional dynasty of this kingdom.
Wales was now coming under increasing attack by
VikingA Viking is one of the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far...
raiders, particularly Danish raids in the period between 950 and 1000. According to the chronicle
Brut y TywysogionBrut y Tywysogion is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. Brut y Tywysogion has survived as several Welsh translations of an original Latin version, which has...
,
Godfrey HaroldsonGofraid mac Arailt , in Old Norse Guðrøðr Haraldsson, was a Scandinavian or Norse-Gael king. He and his brother Maccus were active in the lands around the Irish Sea in the 970s and 980s.-Origins:...
carried off two thousand captives from
AngleseyThe Isle of Anglesey , is an island and county off the northwest coast of Wales, with a predominantly Welsh-speaking population. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges spanning the Menai Strait: the original Menai Suspension Bridge , designed by Thomas Telford in 1826; and the newer...
in 987, and the king of Gwynedd,
Maredudd ab OwainMaredudd ab Owain was a King of Deheubarth, and through conquest also of Gwynedd and Powys, kingdoms in medieval Wales.Maredudd was the son of Owain ap Hywel and the grandson of Hywel Dda. His father was king of Deheubarth before him. As Owain grew too old to lead in battle his son Maredudd took...
is reported to have redeemed many of his subjects from slavery by paying the Danes a large ransom.
Gruffydd ap LlywelynGruffydd ap Llywelyn was the ruler of all Wales from 1055 until his death, one of very few able to make this boast...
was the next ruler to be able to unite most of the Welsh kingdoms under his rule. Originally king of Gwynedd, by 1055 he was ruler of almost all of Wales and had annexed parts of England around the border. However, he was defeated by
Harold GodwinsonHarold Godwinson or Harold II was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England before the Norman Conquest. Harold reigned from 5 January 1066, until his death at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October of that same year, fighting the Norman invaders, led by William the Conqueror...
in 1063 and killed by his own men. His territories were again divided into the traditional kingdoms.
Wales and the Normans: 1067–1283
At the time of the
NormanThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
conquest of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1066, the dominant ruler in Wales was
Bleddyn ap CynfynBleddyn ap Cynfyn was a Prince of the Welsh Kingdoms of Gwynedd and of Powys.- Lineage :Bleddyn was the son of Princess Angharad ferch Maredudd with her second husband Cynfyn ap Gwerstan, a Powys Lord, about whom little is now known...
, who was king of
GwyneddGwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
and
PowysPowys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire, and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,196 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
. The initial Norman successes were in the south, where
William Fitz OsbernWilliam fitzOsbern , Lord of Breteuil, in Normandy, was a relative and close counsellor of William the Conqueror.-1st Norman Earl of Hereford:William FitzOsbern became one of the great magnates of early Norman England...
overran
Gwent
before 1070. By 1074 the forces of the
Earl of ShrewsburyEarl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation:...
were ravaging
Deheubarth
.
The killing of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075 led to civil war and gave the
NormansThe Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. They descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of mostly Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
an opportunity to seize lands in
North WalesNorth Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales and to the east by England.It comprises the island of Anglesey, the Llŷn peninsula and the Snowdonia mountain range, together with the catchments of the Rivers Conwy, Clwyd and Dee with the River Dyfi...
. In 1081
Gruffydd ap CynanGruffydd ap Cynan was a King of Gwynedd. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembered as King of all Wales...
, who had just won the throne of Gwynedd from
Trahaearn ap Caradog- Accession:On the death of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075, it appears that none of his sons were old enough to claim the throne, and Bleddyn's cousin Trahaearn ap Caradog, seized power...
at the
Battle of Mynydd CarnThe Battle of Mynydd Carn took place in 1081, as part of a dynastic struggle for control of the Welsh kingdoms of Gwynedd and Deheubarth. The result of the battle had a radical effect on the history of Wales....
was enticed to a meeting with the
Earl of ChesterThe Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England. Since 1301 the title has generally been given to heirs-apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales.- Traditional power base...
and
Earl of ShrewsburyEarl of Shrewsbury is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the peerage of England.-First creation:...
and promptly seized and imprisoned, leading to the seizure of much of Gwynedd by the Normans. In the south William the Conqueror advanced into
DyfedDyfed is a preserved county of Wales.Dyfed was created by the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974. It was formed from the administrative counties of Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and was divided into local government districts as so:...
founding castles and mints at
St David'sSt David's and the Cathedral Close, more commonly known as St David's , is a recognized city in Pembrokeshire, Wales. With a population of 1,797 in 2001, it is the smallest city in the United Kingdom...
and
CardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for many national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. According to recent estimates, the...
.
Rhys ap TewdwrRhys ap Tewdwr was a Prince of Deheubarth in south-west Wales and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great...
of Deheubarth was killed in 1093 in
BrycheiniogBrycheiniog was a small independent kingdom of South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the powerful south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans between 1088 and 1095, though it remained...
, and his kingdom was seized and divided between various Norman lordships. The Norman conquest of Wales appeared virtually complete.
In 1094 however there was a general Welsh revolt against Norman rule, and gradually territories were won back.
Gruffydd ap CynanGruffydd ap Cynan was a King of Gwynedd. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule, and was remembered as King of all Wales...
was eventually able to build a strong kingdom in
GwyneddGwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
. His son,
Owain GwyneddOwain Gwynedd , alternatively known by the patronymic "Owain ap Gruffydd". He is occasionally referred to as Owain I of Gwynedd, or Owain I of Wales on account of his claim to be King of Wales. He is considered to be the most successful of all the north Welsh princes prior to his grandson,...
, allied with
Gruffydd ap RhysGruffydd ap Rhys ruled a portion of Deheubarth, Wales.- Early life :Following the death of Gruffydd's father Rhys ap Tewdwr in 1093, Deheubarth was taken over by the Normans, and Gruffydd spent much of his early years in exile in Ireland....
of Deheubarth won a crushing victory over the Normans at the
Battle of Crug MawrThe Battle of Crug Mawr took place in September or October 1136, as part of a struggle for control of Ceredigion which had been captured by the Normans....
in 1136 and annexed
CeredigionCeredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. In extent it is more or less identical to the historic county of Cardiganshire, and it was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later.- Geography :...
. Owain followed his father on the throne of Gwynedd the following year and ruled until his death in 1170. He was able to profit from disunity in England, where
Stephen of BloisStephen often known as Stephen of Blois was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was the last Norman King of England, from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne jure uxoris. His reign was marked by civil war with his rival the Empress Matilda and general chaos, known as The Anarchy...
and the
Empress MatildaEmpress Matilda, also known as Matilda of England or Maude was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry...
were engaged in a struggle for the throne, to extend the borders of Gwynedd further east than ever before.
Powys
also had a strong ruler at this time in
Madog ap MareduddMadog ap Maredudd was the last Prince of the entire Kingdom of Powys, Wales and for a time held the Fitzalan Lordship of Oswestry....
, but when his death in 1160 was quickly followed by the death of his heir, Llywelyn ap Madog, Powys was split into two parts and never subsequently reunited. In the south,
Gruffydd ap RhysGruffydd ap Rhys ruled a portion of Deheubarth, Wales.- Early life :Following the death of Gruffydd's father Rhys ap Tewdwr in 1093, Deheubarth was taken over by the Normans, and Gruffydd spent much of his early years in exile in Ireland....
was killed in 1137, but his four sons, who all ruled Deheubarth in turn, were eventually able to win back most of their grandfather's kingdom from the Normans. The youngest of the four,
Rhys ap GruffyddRhys ap Gruffydd was the ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth in south Wales. He is commonly known as The Lord Rhys, in Welsh Yr Arglwydd Rhys, but this title may not have been used in his lifetime...
(The Lord Rhys) ruled from 1155 to 1197. In 1171 Rhys met
King Henry IIHenry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France...
and came to an agreement with him whereby Rhys had to pay a tribute but was confirmed in all his conquests and was later named Justiciar of South Wales. Rhys held a festival of poetry and song at his court at
CardiganCardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire...
over
ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
1176 which is generally regarded as the first recorded
EisteddfodAn eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. The tradition of such a meeting of Welsh artists dates back to at least the 12th century, when a festival of poetry and music was held by Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176 but, with the decline of...
. Owain Gwynedd's death led to the splitting of Gwynedd between his sons, while Rhys made Deheubarth dominant in Wales for a time.
Out of the power struggle in Gwynedd eventually arose one of the greatest of Welsh leaders, Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn Fawr (the Great), who was sole ruler of Gwynedd by 1200 and by his death in 1240 was effectively ruler of much of Wales. Llywelyn made his 'capital' and headquarters at
Garth CelynGarth Celyn at Aber Garth Celyn, now known as Abergwyngregyn, Aber, in Gwynedd, north Wales, was the 13th century home of the Welsh princes , Llywelyn Fawr, Dafydd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.-Early history:...
on the north coast, overlooking the
Menai StraitThe Menai Strait is a narrow stretch of shallow tidal water about long, which separates the island of Anglesey from the mainland of Wales....
. His son
Dafydd ap LlywelynDafydd ap Llywelyn was Prince of Gwynedd from 1240 to 1246. He was for a time recognised as Prince of Wales.- Descent :...
followed him as ruler of Gwynedd, but king
Henry III of EnglandHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 to his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
would not allow him to inherit his father's position elsewhere in Wales. War broke out in 1241 and then again in 1245, and the issue was still in the balance when Dafydd died suddenly at the royal home
Garth CelynGarth Celyn at Aber Garth Celyn, now known as Abergwyngregyn, Aber, in Gwynedd, north Wales, was the 13th century home of the Welsh princes , Llywelyn Fawr, Dafydd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd.-Early history:...
, Aber Garth Celyn, Gwynedd without leaving an heir in early 1246. Llywelyn the Great's other son, Gruffudd had been killed trying to escape from the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
in 1244. Gruffudd had left four sons, and a period of internal conflict between three of these ended in the rise to power of
Llywelyn ap GruffyddLlywelyn ap Gruffydd or Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf —meaning Llywelyn, Our Last Leader—was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England...
(also known as Llywelyn the Last Leader). The
Treaty of MontgomeryBy means of the Treaty of Montgomery , Llywelyn ap Gruffydd was acknowledged as Prince of Wales by the English king Henry III, the only time in history that an English ruler would recognise the right of a ruler of Gwynedd over Wales...
in 1267 confirmed Llywelyn in control, directly or indirectly, over a large part of Wales. However, Llywelyn's claims in Wales conflicted with
Edward I of EnglandEdward I , also known as Edward Longshanks, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English Barons. In 1259 he briefly sided with a baronial...
, and war followed in 1277. Llywelyn was obliged to seek terms, and the
Treaty of AberconwyThe Treaty of Aberconwy was signed in 1277 by King Edward I of England and Llewelyn the Last of modern-day Wales, who had fought each other on and off for years over control of the Welsh countryside...
greatly restricted his authority. War broke out again when Llywelyn's brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd attacked
Hawarden CastleHawarden Old Castle is a medieval castle near Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales.Its age is indeterminate and may date back to the Iron Age fortifications. The original Norman Motte-and-bailey castle was reportedly destroyed and replaced in a short period during the 13th century.The castle played an...
on
Palm SundayPalm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast which always falls on the Sunday before Easter Sunday. The feast commemorates an event mentioned by all four Canonical Gospels , , , and : the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion...
1282. On 11 December 1282, Llywelyn was lured into a meeting in
Builth WellsBuilth Wells is a town in the county of Powys, within the historic boundaries of Brecknockshire, mid Wales, lying at the confluence of the River Wye and the River Irfon, in the Welsh of the Wye Valley.-History and geography:...
castleA castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress, in that it describes a residence of a monarch or...
with unknown Marchers, where he was killed and his army subsequently destroyed. His brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd continued an increasingly forlorn resistance. He was captured in June 1283 and was
hanged, drawn and quarteredTo be hanged, drawn and quartered was the penalty for high treason in medieval England, and remained on the statute book but seldom used in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until abolished under the Treason Act 1814...
at
ShrewsburyShrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is home to 70,689 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...
. In effect Wales became England's first colony until it was finally annexed through the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542The Laws in Wales Acts 1536–1543 were a series of parliamentary measures by which the legal system of Wales was annexed to England and the norms of English administration introduced in order to create a single state and a single legal jurisdiction, which is frequently referred to as England and...
.
Conquest: from the Statute of Rhuddlan to the Laws in Wales Acts 1283 - 1542
After passing the
Statute of RhuddlanThe Statute of Rhuddlan was enacted on 3 March 1284 after the military conquest in 1282-83 of the Principality of Wales — which had been established by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Lord of Aberffraw and Prince of Wales, and briefly held after his death by his successor Dafydd ap Gruffudd — by the King of...
which restricted Welsh laws, King Edward's ring of impressive stone
castleA castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress, in that it describes a residence of a monarch or...
s assisted the domination of Wales, and he crowned his conquest by giving the title
Prince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
to his son and heir in 1301. Wales became, effectively, part of England, even though its people spoke a different language and had a different culture. English kings appointed a Council of Wales, sometimes presided over by the heir to the throne. This Council normally sat in
LudlowLudlow is a market town in Shropshire, England close to the Wales-England border and in the Welsh Marches. It lies within a bend of the River Teme, on its eastern bank, forming an area of 350 acres and centred on a small hill. Atop this hill is the site of Ludlow Castle and the market place...
, now in England but at that time still part of the disputed border area in the
Welsh MarchesThe Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales on the island of Great Britain, in the United Kingdom....
. Welsh literature, particularly
poetryPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, continued to flourish however, with the lesser nobility now taking over from the princes as the patrons of the
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
s.
Dafydd ap GwilymDafydd ap Gwilym , is generally regarded as the greatest Welsh poet of all time and amongst the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages. Dafydd ap Gwilym (c. 1315/1320 – c. 1350/1370), is generally regarded as the greatest Welsh poet of all time and amongst the great poets of Europe in the...
who flourished in the middle of the 14th century is considered by many to be the greatest of the Welsh poets.
There were a number of rebellions including ones led by
Madog ap LlywelynMadog ap Llywelyn, or Prince Madoc, was from a junior branch of the House of Cunedda, and a distant relation of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last recognised native Prince of Wales.-Lineage:...
in 1294–1295 and by
Llywelyn BrenLlywelyn Bren , or Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ap Rhys or Llywelyn of the Woods , was a nobleman who led a revolt in Wales during the reign of King Edward II of England in 1316. The revolt would be the last serious challenge to English rule in Wales until the attempts of Owain Lawgoch to invade Wales with...
, Lord of Senghenydd, in 1316–1318. In the 1370s the last representative in the male line of the ruling house of
GwyneddGwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although one of the biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
,
Owain LawgochOwain Lawgoch, , full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri , was a Welsh soldier who served in Spain, France, Alsace and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War...
, twice planned an invasion of Wales with French support. The English government responded to the threat by sending an agent to assassinate Owain in
PoitouPoitou was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers.The region of Poitou was called Thifalia in the sixth century....
in 1378.
In 1400, a Welsh nobleman,
Owain GlyndŵrOwain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower and also sometimes styled Owain IV of Wales by modern historians, was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welsh person to hold the title Prince of Wales...
(or Owen Glendower), revolted against King
Henry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . Like other kings of England, at that time, he also claimed the title of King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence the other name by which he was known, Henry Bolingbroke...
. Owain inflicted a number of defeats on the English forces and for a few years controlled most of Wales. Some of his achievements included holding the first ever Welsh Parliament at
MachynllethMachynlleth is a market town in Powys, Wales. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads....
and plans for two universities. Eventually the king's forces were able to regain control of Wales and the rebellion died out, but Owain himself was never captured. His rebellion caused a great upsurge in Welsh identity and he was widely supported by Welsh people throughout the country.
As a response to Glyndŵr's rebellion, the English parliament passed the Penal Laws in 1402. These prohibited the Welsh from carrying arms, from holding office and from dwelling in fortified towns. These prohibitions also applied to Englishmen who married Welsh women. These laws remained in force after the rebellion, although in practice they were gradually relaxed.
In the
Wars of the RosesThe Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England. They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1487...
which began in 1455 both sides made considerable use of Welsh troops. The main figures in Wales were the two
Earls of PembrokeThe Earldom of Pembroke, associated with Pembroke Castle in Wales, was created by King Stephen of England. Several times the line has become extinct, and the Earldom has been re-created, starting the count over again with a new first Earl...
, the Yorkist Earl
William HerbertWilliam Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke , known as "Black William", was the grandson of Dafydd Gam, an adherent of King Henry V of England.Herbert supported the Yorkist faction during the Wars of the Roses, as had his father, William ap Thomas...
and the Lancastrian
Jasper TudorJasper Tudor : c. 1431 – December 21/26, 1495, Earl of Pembroke and 1st Duke of Bedford, was the uncle of King Henry VII of England and the architect of his successful conquest of England and Wales in 1485....
. In 1485 Jasper's nephew, Henry Tudor, landed in Wales with a small force to launch his bid for the throne of England. Henry was of Welsh descent, counting princes such as Rhys ap Gruffydd (The Lord Rhys) among his ancestors, and his cause gained much support in Wales. Henry defeated King
Richard III of EnglandRichard III was King of England from 1483 until his death. He was the last king of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England...
at the Battle of Bosworth with an army containing many Welsh soldiers and gained the throne as King
Henry VII of EnglandHenry VII was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the Tudor dynasty.Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the political upheavals of the Wars...
.
Under his son,
Henry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
, the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542The Laws in Wales Acts 1536–1543 were a series of parliamentary measures by which the legal system of Wales was annexed to England and the norms of English administration introduced in order to create a single state and a single legal jurisdiction, which is frequently referred to as England and...
were passed, integrating Wales with England in legal terms, abolishing the Welsh legal system, and banning the
Welsh languageWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
from any official role or status, but it did for the first time define the England-Wales border and allowed members representing constituencies in Wales to be elected to the English Parliament. They also abolished any legal distinction between the Welsh and the English, thereby effectively ending the Penal Code although this was not formally repealed.
From the Union to the Industrial Revolution 1543 - 1800
Following Henry VIII's break with
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
and the
PopeThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
, Wales for the most part followed England in accepting
AnglicanismAnglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures...
, although a number of
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
s were active in attempting to counteract this and produced some of the earliest books printed in Welsh. In 1588
William MorganWilliam Morgan , was Bishop of Llandaff and of St Asaph, and the translator of the first version of the whole Bible into Welsh from Greek and Hebrew.-Life:...
produced the first complete translation of the
Welsh BibleParts of the Bible were translated into Welsh before the 15th century, but the first complete translation was the manuscript of Celydd Sfan, and while no exact date for its composition is known, it was in existence by 1470. This was a translation from the Latin Vulgate. Following the English...
. Morgan's Bible is one of the most significant books in the Welsh language, and its publication greatly increased the stature and scope of the Welsh language and
literatureWelsh literature may be used to refer to any literature originating from Wales or by Welsh writers:*See Literature of Wales for literature in the Welsh language*See Literature of Wales for literature in the English language...
.
Wales was overwhelmingly
RoyalistCavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War . Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles I's cavalry, is often considered an archetypical Cavalier.-Early usage:...
in the
Wars of the Three KingdomsThe Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch. The English Civil War has become the best-known of these conflicts...
in the early 17th century though there were some notable exceptions such as
John Jones MaesygarneddColonel John Jones , was a Welsh military leader, politician and one of the regicides of King Charles I. A brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, Jones was born at Llanbedr in North Wales and is often surnamed Jones Maesygarnedd after the location of his Merionethshire estate. Jones spoke Welsh with...
and the
PuritanA Puritan of 16th and 17th-century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was tolerant...
writer
Morgan LlwydMorgan Llwyd , was a Welsh Puritan preacher, poet and prose writer.- Biography :...
. Wales was an important source of men for the armies of King
Charles I of EnglandCharles I, , the second son of James VI of Scotland and I of England, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Charles famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England...
, though no major battles took place in Wales. The
Second English Civil WarThe Second English Civil War was the second of three wars known as the English Civil War which refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1652 and include the First English Civil War and the Third...
began when unpaid Parliamentarian troops in
PembrokeshirePembrokeshire is a county in the southwest of Wales.-Geography:Pembrokeshire is a maritime county, bordered by the sea on three sides, by Ceredigion to the north east and by Carmarthenshire to the east...
changed sides in early 1648. Colonel
Thomas HortonThomas Horton was an English soldier in the parliamentary army during the English Civil War....
defeated the Royalist rebels at the
battle of St. FagansThe Battle of St. Fagans was a pitched battle in the Second English Civil War in 1648. A detachment from the New Model Army defeated an army of former Parliamentarian soldiers who had rebelled and were now fighting against Parliament.-Background:...
in May and the rebel leaders surrendered to Cromwell on July 11 after the protracted two month
siege of PembrokeThe Siege of Pembroke took place in 1648 during the Second English Civil War.- Background :In April 1648, Parliamentarian troops in Wales, who had not been paid for a long time, staged a Royalist rebellion under the command of the Colonel John Poyer, the Parliamentarian Governor of Pembroke Castle...
.
Education in Wales was at a very low ebb in this period, with the only education available being in English while the majority of the population spoke only Welsh. In 1731
Griffith JonesGriffith Jones, , was a minister of the Church of England famous for his work in organising circulating schools in Wales. His name is usually associated with that of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire....
started circulating schools in
CarmarthenshireCarmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. Its three largest towns are Carmarthen, Llanelli and Ammanford...
, held in one location for about three months before moving (or 'circulating') to another location. The language of instruction in these schools was Welsh. By Griffith Jones' death, in 1761, it is estimated that up to 250,000 people had learnt to read in schools throughout Wales.
The 18th century also saw the
Welsh Methodist revivalThe Welsh Methodist revival was an evangelical revival that revitalised Christianity in Wales during the 18th century. Methodist preachers such as Griffith Jones, William Williams and Howell Harris were such powerful speakers that they converted thousands of people back to the church...
, led by
Daniel RowlandDaniel Rowland, also known as Daniel Rowlands , was one of the foremost leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival along with William Williams and Howell Harris. For most of his life he served as curate in the parishes of Nantcwnlle and Llangeitho, Ceredigion. His name is usually associated with that...
,
Howell HarrisHowell Harris was one of the main leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century, along with Daniel Rowland and William Williams Pantycelyn....
and
William Williams PantycelynWilliam Williams, Pantycelyn is generally acknowledged as Wales's most important hymn writer. He was also one of the key leaders of the 18th century Welsh Methodist revival, along with Daniel Rowland and Howell Harris...
. In the early 19th century the Welsh Methodists broke away from the Anglican church and established their own denomination, now the
Presbyterian Church of WalesThe Presbyterian Church of Wales , also known as The Calvinistic Methodist Church , is a denomination of Protestant Christianity. It was born out of the Welsh Methodist revival in the eighteenth century and seceded from the Church of England in 1811...
. This also led to the strengthening of other nonconformist denominations, and by the middle of the 19th century Wales was largely Nonconformist in religion. This had considerable implications for the Welsh language as it was the main language of the nonconformist churches in Wales. The Sunday schools which became an important feature of Welsh life made a large part of the population literate in Welsh, which was important for the survival of the language as it was not taught in the schools.
The end of the 18th century saw the beginnings of the
Industrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the United Kingdom. The changes subsequently spread throughout Europe, North...
, and the presence of
iron oreIron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red. The iron itself is usually found in the form of magnetite , hematite , goethite, limonite or...
,
limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geologic record...
and large
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
deposits in south-east Wales meant that this area soon saw the establishment of
ironworksAn ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e...
and coal mines, notably the
Cyfarthfa IronworksThe Cyfarthfa Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales.-The beginning:...
and the
Dowlais IronworksThe Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the eighteenth century, it operated until the end of the twentieth, at one time in the nineteenth century being the largest steel producer in the world.Dowlais Ironworks was one...
at
Merthyr TydfilMerthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 13th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It was formerly in the historic county of...
.
The 19th century
In the early 19th century parts of Wales became heavily industrialised.
IronworksAn ironworks or iron works is a building or site where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and/or steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e...
were set up in the
South Wales ValleysThe South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
, running south from the
Brecon BeaconsThe Brecon Beacons is a mountain range in South Wales. It forms the central section of the Brecon Beacons National Park , one of Wales's three National Parks.-Range:...
particularly around the
new townA new town, planned community or planned city is a city, town, or community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion.Navi Mumbai, a planned city near Indian city...
of
Merthyr TydfilMerthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 13th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It was formerly in the historic county of...
, with
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
production later spreading westwards to the hinterlands of
NeathNeath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...
and
SwanseaSwansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
where anthracite
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
was already being mined. From the 1840s
coal miningCoal mining is the extraction or removal of coal from the earth by mining. When coal is used for fuel in power generation it is referred to as steaming or thermal coal. Coal that is used to create coke for steel manufacturing is referred to as coking or metallurgical coal...
spread to the
AberdareAberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the River Dar and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,619...
and
RhonddaRhondda , or the Rhondda Valley , is a former coal mining valley in Wales, formerly a local government district, consisting of 16 communities built around the River Rhondda. The valley is made up of two valleys, the larger Rhondda Fawr valley and the smaller Rhondda Fach valley...
valleys. This led to a rapid increase in the population of these areas.
The social effects of
industrialisationIndustrialisation is the process of social and economic change whereby a human group is transformed from a pre-industrial society into an industrial one...
led to bitter social conflict between the Welsh workers and predominantly English factory and mine owners. During the 1830s there were two armed uprisings, in
Merthyr TydfilMerthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 13th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It was formerly in the historic county of...
in 1831, and the
ChartistChartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1850. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:...
uprising in
NewportNewport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff, and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
in 1839, led by
John FrostJohn Frost was a prominent leader of the British Chartist movement in the Newport Rising.- Early life :...
. The
Rebecca RiotsThe Rebecca Riots took place between 1839 and 1842 in South Wales and Mid Wales. They were a protest against the high tolls which had to be paid on the local turnpike roads...
, which took place between 1839 and 1844 in
South WalesSouth Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
and
Mid WalesMid Wales is the name given to the area of Wales lying between North and South Wales. Like the other regions of Wales, it has no official status as a region and therefore has no precise boundaries. It borders England via the Welsh Marches to the east and the Irish Sea via Cardigan Bay to the west...
were
ruralRural areas are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low population density.About 91 percent of the rural population now earn salaried incomes, often in urban areas...
in origin. They were a protest not only against the high tolls which had to be paid on the local Turnpike roads but against rural deprivation.
Partly as a result of these disturbances, a government enquiry was carried out into the state of education in Wales. The enquiry was carried out by three English commissioners who spoke no Welsh and relied on information from witnesses, many of them Anglican clergymen. Their report, published in 1847 as Reports of the commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales concluded that the Welsh were ignorant, lazy and immoral, and that this was caused by the Welsh language and
nonconformityNonconformism refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England.- Origins and use :...
. This resulted in a furious reaction in Wales, where the affair was named the
Treachery of the Blue BooksThe Treachery of the Blue Books or Treason of the Blue Books was the name given in Wales to the Reports of the commissioners of enquiry into the state of education in Wales published in 1847. The term Brad y Llyfrau Gleision was coined by the author R. J...
.
Socialism gained ground rapidly in the industrial areas of South Wales in the latter part of the century, accompanied by the increasing politicisation of religious
NonconformismNonconformism refers to the Protestant Christians of England and Wales who refused to "conform", or follow the governance and usages of the Church of England.- Origins and use :...
. The first
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
MP,
Keir HardieJames Keir Hardie, Sr. , best known as "Keir," was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of Great Britain. Hardie is regarded as one of the primary founders of the Independent Labour Party as well as the Labour...
, was elected as junior member for the Welsh constituency of
Merthyr TydfilMerthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 13th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It was formerly in the historic county of...
and
AberdareAberdare is an industrial town in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, situated at the confluence of the River Dar and Cynon. The population at the census was 31,619...
in 1900. In common with many European nations, the first movements for
national autonomyNationalism is an ideology, a sentiment, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. It is a type of collectivism emphasizing the collective of a specific nation...
began in the 1880s and 1890s with the formation of
Cymru FyddThe Cymru Fydd movement was founded in 1886 by some of the London Welsh, including J. E. Lloyd, O. M. Edwards, T. E. Ellis , Beriah Gwynfe Evans and Alfred Thomas. Initially it was a purely London-based society, later expanding to cities in England with a large Welsh population...
, led by Liberal Party politicians such as
T. E. EllisThomas Edward Ellis , usually known as T. E. Ellis, was a Welsh politician who was the leader of Cymru Fydd, a movement aimed at gaining home rule for Wales.-Life:...
and
David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British statesman and the only Welsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; he is also the only one to have spoken English as a second language, Welsh having been his first.During a long tenure of office, mainly as Chancellor of the...
.
Another movement which gained strength during the 1880s was the campaign for
disestablishmentA state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. Practically, a state without a state religion is called a secular state. The term state church is associated with Christianity, and is sometimes used to denote a specific national branch of Christianity...
. Many felt that since Wales was now largely nonconformist in religion, it was inappropriate that the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches...
should be the established church in Wales. The campaign continued until the end of the century and beyond, with the passing of the
Welsh Church Act 1914The Welsh Church Act 1914 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom under which the Welsh part of the Church of England was separated and disestablished, leading to the creation of the Church in Wales...
, which did not come into operation until 1920, after the end of the First World War.
The 19th century brought about a large increase in population as Wales, like the rest of the UK, largely attributable to high birth rates and the
demographic transitionThe Demographic transition model is a model used to represent the process of explaining the transformation of countries from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth rates and low death rates as part of the economic development of a country from a pre-industrial to an industrialized...
. In 1801 just over 587,000 people lived in Wales; by 1901, this had increased to over 2,012,000. The growth rate in the first half of the 19th century was almost 15 per cent per decade, falling to 12.5 per cent per decade for the rest of the century. However, these changes were uneven. The most significant rises in population occurred in industrial counties -
DenbighshireDenbighshire is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, and a former administrative county, which covered an area in north-east Wales. It was a maritime county, bounded to the north by the Irish Sea, to the east by Flintshire, Cheshire and Shropshire, to the south by Montgomeryshire and...
,
FlintshireFlintshire is one of thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales, which mostly lay on the north-east coast of Wales....
, although by far the largest part of the increase was in
MonmouthshireMonmouthshire , also known as the County of Monmouth , is one of thirteen ancient counties of Wales and a former administrative county....
and Glamorganshire. From 1851, the population of rural counties such as
MontgomeryshireMontgomeryshire, also known as Maldwyn is one of thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after one of William the Conqueror's main counsellors, Roger de Montgomerie, who was the 1st Earl of Shrewsbury....
and
RadnorshireRadnorshire is one of thirteen historic and former administrative counties of Wales. It is represented by the Radnorshire area of Powys, which according to the 2001 census, had a population of 24,805....
began to decline. The causes were complex, but included the transition from
subsistenceSubsistence agriculture is self-sufficient farming in which farmers grow only enough food to feed their family. The typical subsistence farm has a range of crops and animals needed by the family to eat during the year. Planting decisions are made with an eye toward what the family will need...
to capitalised farming, and the lure of new employment opportunities in industrial districts.
Another aspect of demographic change in the late 19th century was
immigrationImmigration is the arrival of new individuals into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration.-As a political term:...
, principally into the industrial districts of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Wales was the only area of the British Isles to experience net immigration from 1860 to 1914. Between 1881 and 1891, Glamorgan received a net inflow of more than 48,000 people from England.
The 20th century
The first decade of the 20th century was the period of the coal boom in South Wales, when population growth exceeded 20 per cent. By 1911, Glamorgan and Monmouthshire contained 63 per cent of the Welsh population, compared to a third sixty years earlier. Demographic changes affected the language frontier; the proportion of Welsh speakers in the Rhondda valley fell from 64 per cent in 1901 to 55 per cent ten years later, and similar trends were evident elsewhere in South Wales.
In the early part of the century Wales still largely supported the
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the mid 19th century until the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become...
, particularly when
David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British statesman and the only Welsh Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; he is also the only one to have spoken English as a second language, Welsh having been his first.During a long tenure of office, mainly as Chancellor of the...
became
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
during the First World War. However the
Labour PartyThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
was steadily gaining ground, and in the years after the Great War replaced the Liberals as the dominant party in Wales, particularly in the industrial valleys of
South WalesSouth Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
.
Plaid CymruPlaid Cymru is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union.Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
was formed in 1925 but initially its growth was slow and it gained few votes at parliamentary elections.
In 1936 an RAF training camp and aerodrome at
PenyberthPenyberth was a farmhouse at Penrhos, on the Llŷn Peninsula near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, which had been the home to generations of patrons of poets, but destroyed in 1936 in order to build a training camp and aerodrome for the RAF....
near
PwllheliPwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a large Welsh-speaking population . Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones - Cynan - the Welsh poet.-History:The town's name...
was burnt by three members of
Plaid CymruPlaid Cymru is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union.Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
–
Saunders LewisSaunders Lewis was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic, and political activist. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist and a founder of the Welsh National Party . Lewis is usually acknowledged to have been among the most prominent figures of twentieth-century Welsh-language literature...
,
Lewis ValentineLewis Edward Valentine was a Welsh politician, Baptist pastor, author, editor and Welsh language activist-Early life:Valentine was born in Llanddulas, Conwy, son of Samuel Valentine, a limestone quarryman, and his wife Mary...
, and D. J. Williams. This was a protest not only against the construction of the training camp, known as "the bombing school" but also against the destruction of the historic house of Penyberth to make room for it. This action and the subsequent imprisonment of the three perpetrators considerably raised the profile of Plaid Cymru, at least in the Welsh-speaking areas.
The period following the Second World War saw a decline in several of the traditional industries, in particular the
coalCoal is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock normally occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
industry. The numbers employed in the
South Wales coalfieldThe South Wales Coalfield is a large region of south Wales that is rich with coal deposits.- The coalfield area :The South Wales Coalfield lies in parts of the unitary authorities of Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Vale of Glamorgan, Merthyr Tydfil,...
, which at its peak around 1913 employed over 250,000 men, fell to around 75,000 in the mid 1960s and 30,000 in 1979.
This period also saw the
AberfanAberfan is a village four miles south of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. The village is chiefly known because of the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil-tip that occurred there in 1966, known as the Aberfan Disaster, which killed 144 people, including 116 children.-Aberfan disaster:For...
disaster in 1966, when a tip of coal slurry slid down to engulf a school with 144 dead, most of them children. By the early 1990s there was only one deep pit still working in Wales. There was a similar decline in the
steelSteel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
industry, and the Welsh economy, like that of other developed societies, became increasingly based on the expanding service sector.
The post-war years saw the erosion of some Welsh traditions, such as religious non-conformity and
Sunday closingThe Sunday Closing Act 1881 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It required the closure of all public houses in Wales on Sundays...
, but the increasing reassertion of Welsh distinctiveness. In 1955,
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
Gwilym Lloyd George proclaimed
CardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for many national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. According to recent estimates, the...
as the
capital cityCapital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of Wales and in 1964 the first
Secretary of State for WalesThe Secretary of State for Wales is the head of the Wales Office within the United Kingdom cabinet. He is responsible for ensuring Welsh interests are taken into account by the government, representing the government within Wales and overseeing the passing of legislation which is only for Wales...
was appointed, heading a
Welsh OfficeThe Welsh Office was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post which had been created in October 1964...
, the first stage in administrative
devolutionDevolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a Sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level...
. In 1967 the Wales and Berwick Act, which specified that for legal purposes the term "England" should include Wales, was repealed. Nationalism became a major issue during the second half of the twentieth century. In 1962 Saunders Lewis gave a
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
talk entitled
Tynged yr iaith"Tynged yr Iaith" was a radio lecture delivered in Welsh by Saunders Lewis on February 13, 1962. Reaction to it brought about a major change in the politics of Wales...
(The fate of the language) in which he predicted the extinction of the Welsh language unless action was taken. This led to the formation of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) the same year. Nationalism grew particularly following the flooding of the Tryweryn valley in 1965, drowning the village of
Capel CelynCapel Celyn was a rural community to the north west of Bala in north Wales, in the Afon Tryweryn Valley that was flooded to create a reservoir, Llyn Celyn, to supply Liverpool and The Wirral, with water for industry...
to create a reservoir supplying water to
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. In 1966
Gwynfor EvansDr Richard Gwynfor Evans , was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. President of Plaid Cymru for thirty six years, he was the first Member of Parliament to represent Plaid Cymru at Westminster ....
won the Carmarthen seat for
Plaid CymruPlaid Cymru is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union.Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
at a by-election, their first Parliamentary seat. The flooding of Capel Celyn also prompted the formation of militant groups such as the
Free Wales ArmyThe Free Wales Army was a paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation, formed out of Lampeter, Mid Wales, by William Julian Cayo-Evans in 1963. Its objective was to establish an independent Welsh republic. The organization had no more than 20 members but claimed to have 2000.The FWA first...
and
Mudiad Amddiffyn CymruMudiad Amddiffyn Cymru , abbreviated as MAC, was a paramilitary Welsh nationalist organisation, modelled to some degree on the Irish Republican Army, which was responsible for a number of bombing incidents between 1963 and 1969.MAC was initially set up in response to the flooding of the Afon...
(MAC - Welsh Defence Movement). In the years leading up to the investiture of Prince Charles as
Prince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...
in 1969, these groups were responsible for a number of bomb blasts destroying water pipes and tax and other offices. Two members of MAC, George Taylor and Alwyn Jones, the "Abergele Martyrs", were killed by a home made bomb at
AbergeleAbergele is a community and old Roman trading town, situated on the north coast of Wales between the holiday resorts of Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, in Conwy County Borough. Its northern suburb of Pensarn lies on the Irish Sea coast and is known for its beach, where it is claimed by some that a ghost ship...
the day before the investiture ceremony.
Plaid Cymru made gains in the two General Elections held in 1974, winning three seats. There was increased support for
devolutionDevolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a Sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level...
within the Labour party and a Devolution Bill was introduced in late 1976.
However a referendum on the creation of an assembly for Wales in 1979 led to a large majority for the "no" vote. The new Conservative government elected in the 1979 General Election had pledged to establish a Welsh-language television channel, but announced in September 1979 that it would not honour this pledge. This led to a campaign of non-payment of television licences by members of Plaid Cymru and an announcement by
Gwynfor EvansDr Richard Gwynfor Evans , was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. President of Plaid Cymru for thirty six years, he was the first Member of Parliament to represent Plaid Cymru at Westminster ....
in 1980 that he would fast unto death if a
Welsh languageWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
channel was not established. In September 1980 the government announced that the channel would after all be set up, and
S4CS4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fourth oldest British terrestrial television channel S4C , currently...
was launched in November 1982. The
Welsh Language Act 1993The Welsh Language Act 1993 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector....
gave the
Welsh languageWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh border and in the Welsh immigrant colony in the Chubut Valley in Argentine Patagonia....
equal status with English in Wales with regard to the public sector.
In May 1997, a
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
government was elected with a promise of creating devolved institutions in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and
WalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, bordered by England to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It is also an elective region of the European Union...
. In late 1997 a referendum was held on the issue which resulted a "yes" vote, albeit by a narrow majority. The Welsh Assembly was set up in 1999 (as a consequence of the
Government of Wales Act 1998This is about the Act that set up the Welsh Assembly. For the newer Government of Wales Act 2006, see that article.The Government of Wales Act, 1998 This is about the Act that set up the Welsh Assembly. For the newer Government of Wales Act 2006, see that article.The Government of Wales Act, 1998...
) and possesses the power to determine how the
governmentA government is the body within a community, political entity or organization which has the authority to make and enforce rules, laws and regulations.....
budget for Wales is spent and administered.
Over the course of the 20th century, the population of Wales increased from just over 2,012,000 in 1901 to 2.9 million in 2001, but the process was not linear - 430,000 people left Wales between 1921 and 1940 largely owing to the economic depression of the 1930s. English in-migration became a major factor from the first decade of the 20th century, when there was net gain of 100,000 people from England. In this era, most incomers settled in the expanding industrial areas, contributing to a partial
AnglicisationAnglicisation or Anglicization is a process of conversion of verbal or written elements of any other language into a more comprehensible English form for an English speaker....
of some parts of south and east Wales. The proportion of the Welsh population able to speak the Welsh language fell from just under 50% in 1901 to 43.5% in 1911, and continued to fall to a low of 18.9% in 1981. Over the century there has also been a marked increase in the proportion of the population born outside Wales; at the time of the 2001
CensusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
20% of Welsh residents were born in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 2% were born in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
or
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, and 3% were born outside the UK. Whereas most incomers settled in industrial districts in the early 1900s, by the 1990s the highest proportions of people born outside Wales were found in
CeredigionCeredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. In extent it is more or less identical to the historic county of Cardiganshire, and it was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later.- Geography :...
,
PowysPowys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire, and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,196 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
,
ConwyConwy, formerly known in English as Conway, is a town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales; it faces Deganwy across the River Conwy. The town formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire...
,
DenbighshireDenbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales...
and
FlintshireFlintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Cheshire, Denbighshire, and Wrexham. It is named for the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
.
The 21st century
The results of the 2001
CensusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
showed an increase in the number of Welsh speakers to 21% of the population aged 3 and older, compared with 18.7% in 1991 and 19.0% in 1981. This compares with a pattern of steady decline indicated by census results during the 20th century.
In Cardiff the
Millennium StadiumThe Millennium Stadium is the national stadium of Wales, located in the capital, Cardiff. It is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and the Wales national football team but is also host to many other large scale events, such as Wales Rally Great Britain stage of the World Rally...
, opened in 1999, was followed by the
Wales Millennium CentreWales Millennium Centre , which also has a nickname locally as the Armadillo, is an arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of . Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of the 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22...
opened in 2004 as a centre for cultural events, notably opera. The new Welsh Assembly building, to be known as the Senedd, was completed in February 2006 and officially opened on St. David's Day that year.
In 2006 the Government of Wales Act gained
Royal AssentThe granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a constitutional monarch completes the legislative process of lawmaking by formally assenting to an Act of Parliament. While the power to withhold Royal Assent was once exercised often, it is exceedingly rare in the modern, democratic...
meaning that from May 2007 the Queen would have the new legal identity of 'Her Majesty in Right of Wales' and would for the first time appoint Welsh Ministers and sign Welsh Orders in Council. It also made provision for a future referendum to ask the Welsh people if they would like the Welsh Assembly to gain the power to pass primary legislation e.g. to make true Welsh laws.
External links