#english_history 

## Arrival
By the 8th century most of the [[The Celts in Britain|Celts]] had been driven into the Welsh peninsula, kept out of England by [[Saxon Invaders#^001ed9|Offa's dyke]] built in **779 CE**. The Welsh called themselves **cymry**, "fellow countrymen".

## Agriculture
Because Wales is a mountainous country, the cymry could only live in the crowded valleys. The rest of the land was only suitable for keeping animals, so the population remained small.

## Society
Life was hard and so were the people. Slavery was common. Society was based on **family groupings**, each of which owned one or more village or farm settlement, in which a strong leader promoted himself from a tribal chief to king. Each of these kings tried to conquer the others - **high** kings.

## Kingdoms
At first Wales consisted of several Celtic kingdoms:
![[Pasted image 20220621142715.png]]
But in **1039** Gruffydd ap (son of) Llewelyn was the first Welsh king strong to independently rule over all Wales. He was also the last, and in order to remain in control he spend most of his reign fighting his enemies. 
Kings after him were able to rule only after they had promised loyalty to [[Troubles on the Throne in 10th-11th century England#^b021a7|Edward the Confessor]].

## English conquest

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William I had allowed his lords to win land by conquest in Wales, who slowly extended their control up the Welsh river valleys and by the beginning of the 12th century much of Wales was held by them. They progressed forward and mixed with and married the Welsh, giving rise to a new class, a mixture of the Norman and Welsh rulers, vassals of the English kings.
Edward I was more interested in reconquesting Britain than France, so he paid extra attention to the only Welsh free from English rule - around [[Snowdonia]], led by **Llewelyn ap Gruffyd**, prince of Gwynedd, who fought for Welsh independence. In **1282** he was captured and killed, with Edward I beginning a programme of castle building. In **1284** he united west Wales with England, although did not interfere with the areas the Normans had conquered earlier on the English-Welsh border.
Then Edward I made his son (**Edward II**) Prince of Wales. From that time the eldest son of the ruling king or queen has usually been made Prince of Wales.

## 14-15th century revolt
After Edward I's conquest, he brought English people to enlarge small towns. As such, Pembrokeshire, for example, became known as **"Little England beyond Wales"**.
The Welsh also enlisted in the English army due to them losing their land to the English nobles.
Then, a century later, Owain Glyndwr showed up and gained Welsh support across all of Wales.
At first he joined the revolt of Norman-Welsh border lords, but after some time, in **1400**, he was proclaimed Prince of Wales by his supported.
Although he did create a felling of national identity, after **1410** the Welsh realised that however hard they fought they would never be free of the English. Owain Glyndwr was never captured.

## The Tudors
Henry VII was half Welsh. He wanted the public to suggest that he was somehow connected with King Arthur, so he named his son Arthur. Arthur, however, soon died.

His second son, Henry VIII, was more interested in forcing the Welsh to become more English. One example of the changes Henry VIII made was the forced introduction of family names for the Welsh, who for centuries had been using their own first name with those of their father and grandfather, using ap, which meant "son of". From 1535 the English put pressure on the Welsh to use an English system of names by preventing Welsh names being used in law courts and on official papers.
Many Welsh people accepted wrong English ways of pronouncing their names, others took their fathers' first names and ap Richard, e.g., turned into Pritchard.

Between 1536 and 1543 Wales became joined to England under one administration. English law was now the only law for Wales: locals were appointed as [[Government and society in Late Medieval England|JPs]], the Welsh gentry became part of the ruling English establishment.

The Welsh language was dying out, and the only reason why it survived is because Henry VIII had given permission for a Welsh bible to be printed.
Although most people gave up speaking Welsh, poets and singers continued to use it. The gathered at **eisteddfods**, competitions. However, the introduction of schools using English almost destroyed this last fortress of Welsh culture. But at the end of the 18th century, there were still a few who could speak Welsh. Eisteddfods began again. bringing back an institution which still continues today.