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Welsh History Page
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 Welsh History
Wales has been described as one of the oldest countries in the world, with
evidence of human habitation stretching back nearly 200,000 years. The European
Celts, who arrived just after 600 BC, brought the popular Welsh attributes of
eloquence, warmth and imagination. The subsequent Roman presence has been
mythologised as a period of benevolent rule, perhaps due to the comparative
chaos of the ensuing period, when raiding Irish pirates and Scots (the Brythons)
arrived. Elements of Christianity arrived in the 5th century from Ireland, and
was most famously proselytised by a monk called Dewi (later Normanised into
David, patron saint of Wales). This nascent Christianity was grafted onto the
contumaciously held Celtic belief system, with its sacred wells, holy men and
hermit saints.
The period from the 5th to the 11th centuries was coloured by Anglo-Saxon
pressure and invasion, and it was also around this time that the Brythons began
to call themselves Cymry, or fellow countrymen. King Arthur, that font of
legend, hope and inspiration, is thought to have led the Brythons against the
Anglo-Saxons some time during the 8th century. More tangible, and dating from
the same period, was the action of Offa, king of the neighbouring Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Mercia. He constructed a dyke to mark the boundary between the Welsh
and the Mercians. Today, Offa's Dyke has been named as one of the country's best
walks.
Viking invasions in the 9th and 10th centuries served to unify the individual
Welsh kingdoms which had developed. Ironically, just as the threat of invasion
caused Wales to develop as a recognisable entity, it also caused it to fall
further under the control of the English crown. In 927, the Welsh kings
recognised Athelstan, the Anglo-Saxon king, as their protective overlord. During
the next century, William the Conqueror took full advantage of this precedent,
setting up powerful and incursive feudal barons along the Welsh border.
Attempts were made in the 13th century to secure Wales as an independent state,
and the poignantly named Llywelyn the Last managed to get himself recognised as
the first Prince of Wales by Henry III of England in 1267. The nation's
untrammelled joy was brief, however, with Henry's warlike successor, Edward I,
soon casting the net of fealty over his neighbour. The crowning insult came in
1302 when the title of Prince of Wales was given to the English monarch's eldest
son. Edward's authority was made further evident by the construction of a number
of massive castles and the assignment of English colonists to set up
English-style boroughs and counties.
The last armed opposition to English rule came in 1400, when Owain Glyndwr made
a claim to the principality of Wales, as a descendant of the princes of northern
Powys. His rebellion was crushed by Henry IV, whose imposition of severe
punishments caused feelings to remain bitter for many years.
Wales lay slumbering until the 1730s, when it was awakened and sullied by the
Industrial Revolution, and stirred and given a new identity by rampant
Methodism. Coal, copper, slate and tin production led to a phenomenally
increased population, rapidly changing the country's make-up from fragmented
rural communities to urbanised mining and industrial centres. The smoky cities
were hotbeds of nonconformism, nationalism, trade unionism, liberalism and
support for the Labour Party. Change was slow but inexorable: Plaid Cymru, the
Welsh National Party, was formed in 1925; the Welsh language was made legally
acceptable in 1942; Cardiff was made the official capital in 1955; a Welsh
minister of state was appointed with cabinet rank in the British government in
1964; and today, Plaid Cymru holds several seats in the House of Commons. Welsh
culture and language also prevailed; Wales got its own Welsh-language TV channel
in 1982.
Wales has entered the 1990s still adjusting to the collapse of its traditional
coal and steel industries. Large-scale unemployment persists, despite
diversification programmes. The current Labour government's policies are
certainly more Welsh-friendly than those of the Conservatives (who hold no seats
in Wales after the 1997 general election), but the likelihood of Wales emerging
as a separate nation remains slim.
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