Wales: A Background

Wales, a land noted for its large coal deposits, rugged mountains, Moors and forests, and its strong Celtic heritage. This region was originally populated by an Iberian people who were overrun by the Celts in the 6th century B.C. The wealth of the British Isles attracted the attention of the Roman Empire, who first sent expeditions led by Julius Caesar in 55 B.C. and then invaded the island nation under Claudius in 43 A.D. Julius Agricola, who became governor of the new province of Britannia in 78 A.D. completed the conquest of Wales by building a network of roads and erecting a substantial number of forts. A Roman legion composed of over 10,000 soldiers was garrisoned at Caerleon in the south of what is now Wales. However, the Romans abandoned the region after nearly four centuries of rule during the early 5th century. The imperial legions were recalled to Rome in a vain attempt to fend off the conquest of the empire by barbarian tribes; those Romans that remained were expelled by the Britons in 409 A.D.

However, the Britons soon faced conquest by a new wave of invaders. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Teutonic tribes led by the Angles and the Saxons began to settle in England. The newcomers began the subjugation of the Celtic inhabitants; those Britons who were not assimilated, enslaved or massacred were slowly driven out of their homelands. By 650 A.D. the Anglo/ Saxons had entrenched themselves in eleven kingdoms, including Northumbria, Mercia, Wessex, Kent, Essex, Sussex and East Anglia, which were collectively known as the Heptarchy. Meanwhile, many Britons had retreated into the hills in the west of the island, where they encountered friendly Irish settlers. The two peoples mingled and called themselves Cymri, which means fellow countrymen; they called their land Cymru. Nonetheless, they became better known by the name given to them by the Anglo/Saxons: Wealhas, which means foreigners.

The Welsh, as they came to be known, were Christianized in the 6th century. They persistently defended their land against the Anglo/ Saxons and challenged the authority of the powerful King Offa of Mercia in a series of conflicts between 760 and 796. The first recorded king of Wales was Rhodri Mawr, who was otherwise known as Roderick the Great. Ruling from his seat in Anglesey, he drove off the raids of Norman pirates, who were the descendants of Viking raiders. Following his death in 893, his realm was divided among his three sons: Anarawd became King of North Wales; Cadalh became king of South Wales, and Mervyn became King of Mid-Wales.

Gruffydd ap Llywelyn united all Wales under his leadership, despite the opposition of the princes of the south. He allied himself with Ælfgar, an outlawed Anglo/Saxon earl, and they invaded England in 1055. However, Gruffydd's ambitions were finally ended after a successful military campaign when he was slain in 1063 by the forces of Earl Harold Godwinson, who later became King Harold II of England.

The Anglo/Saxon forces of Harold II were defeated by the army of Duke William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Norman Conquest marked a new era in the history of England: new cultural, ecclestiastical, and commerical links were established with the continent; the Feudal System was introduced; and the Norman aristocracy displaced the Old Anglo/Saxon thegns. Although the new rulers of England claimed Wales as part of their dominion, the Welsh continued to defiantly maintain their independence, just as they had done with the Anglo/ Saxons. William I, unable to subdue Wales, appointed earls to control the Welsh marches.

A brief conquest of North Wales by the Normans was decisively expelled in 1094, but by the end of the reign of Henry I in 1135, South Wales was practically an Anglo-Norman province. However, the Welsh revolted during the anarchic period following the death of Henry I and the accession of Stephen I, and freed almost all of Wales from English rule. Two great princes emerged in Wales at this time; Owain of Gwynedd led in the north and Rhys ap Gruffyd led in the south. Henry II forced these princes to render homage to him in 1157, but they threw off the English yoke and freed Wales once again in 1165. The Welsh made masterful use of guerrilla tactics, making quick, effective thrusts before retreating to their bleak mountain homes to plan their next raid. It is a testimony to the indomitable fighting spirit of the Welsh that there are more castles--or ruins of castles--per square mile in Wales than anywhere else in the world.

Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, the sovereign of most of Wales, scored a decisive victory over the English in 1267, and was acknowledged as Prince of Wales by King Henry III. However, war erupted again in 1275, and two years later, Llewellyn was forced to accept peace terms dictating that the rulership of Wales would pass to the English Crown upon his death. Rebellion broke out once again in 1282 when Llewellyn's brother David seized Hawarden Castle and rode through Wales calling for revolt. All free Wales rose up in answer to his call.

However, Llewyllyn was decisively defeated this time and he was slain by the forces of Edward I in 1283; Shortly thereafter, the Statute of Rhuddan united Wales to England and divided it into counties. The King's son Edward II became Prince of Wales in 1301. Nevertheless, revolts against English rule continued, notably under Owen Glendower, whose uprising against Henry IV lasted from 1400 to 1409.

Relations between Wales and England took a new direction during the late 15th century. The Tudors were a Welsh dynasty and fought on behalf of the House of Lancaster in the Wars of the Roses. One member of this house ascended the throne of England in 1485 as King Henry VII. Wales was brought into a legal and administrative union with England by his son King Henry VIII between 1534 and 1536. The Welsh did not oppose this consolidation, for they saw it as an emancipation from the troubles that had plagued Wales since the reign of Edward I.

The Welsh people were intimately linked with the eventful history of England during the medieval period, and were greatly influenced by the forces of Nonconformism and biblical fundmentalism during the 17th century, an era of bitter religious strife. Conflict between the Crown and Parliament rocked the nation during the era of Cromwell. Religious conflagrations again flared up beteen Catholic and Protestants during the "Glorious Revolution" which led to the long series of Jacobite uprisings by the supporters of the Catholic King James II. Many of the Welsh people signed undertakings to remain Protestant and migrated to Ireland to settle on lands confiscated from Catholics during the Plantation of Ulster.

The open spaces and untamed frontiers of North America attracted many Welsh migrants in search of adventure and property. Many English families migrated to the New World on the armada of sailing ships romantically known as the White Sails, but often referred to as coffin ships. As a result of the harsh conditions on the overcrowded ships, the majority of the immigrants arrived in the New World diseased, famished, and destitute from the long journey across the stormy Atlantic. After risking the perilous journey across the oceans to the newly discovered lands in North America, the English settlers realized that the New World was not the paradise they had expected. Early attempts to establish a colony at Roanoke Island in North Carolina met with disaster. In 1591, supply ships found the colony deserted and the fate of the settlers remained a mystery forever.

The great era of English migration to Canada began after the Seven Years War, when Canada was ceded to the British. Following the American War of Independence, many English settlers migrated from the United States into Canada. These families, who were known as United Empire Loyalists moved into Nova Scotia, and the St. Lawrence and Niagara regions. Welsh families have made a valuable contribution to the settlement of North America and to the development of the cultures of the United States and Canada.