Arch-Druid

§  Mainly farmers, shepherds, and forest dwellers

§  Religion: Druidism  (Druids: religious and political leaders)

§  Lived in clans

Roman amphitheatre in Caerleon

§  Couldn’t conquer most of Wales, but

§  Built forts and stationed large legions there:

            South Wales: Caerleon (6000) (+ smaller ones)

            North Wales: Caernarvon  (+ smaller ones)

§  Connected the forts with stone roads

§  At this time Welsh Celtic clans live in large areas in Britain outside of present-day Wales: Cornwall, Devon, Caledonia (Scottish Lowlands), etc.

St David

§  St David (the patron Saint of Wales) established a monastery in the SW corner of Wales (called St David’s today). Today it is the smallest city in Great Britain.

king Offa

§  King Arthur sets up his court an Caerleon Amphitheatre (Camelot!)

§  516  King Arthur beats the 1^st wave of Anglo-Saxons

§  Border wars between the Welsh and Anglo-Saxons

§  615  Wales is cut off from the other Celtic tribes

§  784  Anglo-Saxon king Offa has a dyke built as a border: Offa’s Dyke

            (almost = the present boundary between England + Wales)

§  850s Vikings are defeated

Hywel Dda

§  Wales is united under Hywel Dda until Gruffudd ap Llewlyn

§  Welsh laws are collected and written down

§  Welsh bards played an important role

Gruffudd ap Llewlyn,

the last prince of an independent Wales

§  Establish Marcher Lordships on the borders + control most of the lowlands (~Englishires)

§  1140s-1270s: Wales flourishes under the Princes of Wales

            (Norman influence is pushed back)

§  1176  1st Eisteddfod held: competition for bards + musicians 

            (means “chairing” because each winner received a carved wooden chair)

§  Wales is reunified during the 13th c

Owain Glyndwr

'The Little Bible', 1630, the first Welsh Bible published for the common people

§  Subjugation of Wales by Edward I: 1282-4 (Statute of Rhuddlan)

Edward I brings his pregnant wife to Caernarvon: she gives birth there to their 1st son: the future Edward III is proclaimed Prince of Wales!! (1301)   (The English king had known about a Welsh legend foretelling the birth of a Welsh prince, who would save his people.  Edward, to placate the Welsh, thought he would arrange for that legend to “come true”…  Since then, the 1st born son of the English monarch gets the title of Prince of Wales.  Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales by the Queen at age 18 in Caernarvon Castle.)

§  1400 Owain Glyndwr leads the Welsh War of Independence: in 4 years he reconquered almost all Wales. His campaign became exhausted due to a lack of  funds: couldn’t pay his soldiers. The war’s great success evaporated as the soldiers deserted him ® Penal Laws against the Welsh people 

§  1485 Tudor dynasty (set up by the half-Welsh Henry Tudor – Henry VII)

§  1536 Henry VIII: Act of Union 

ú  Forced assimilation of the Welsh people begins:

ú  Welsh last names were Anglicised

ú  English became the no. 1 official language

ú  English laws replaced Welsh laws

ú  Dissolution of the Catholic Church ® the Church in Wales (=Anglican Church) was established

ú  Eisteddfods were banned

ú  Wales was governed from London (but no Welsh representatives in Parliament)

§  1588 The Bible translated to Welsh: saved the Welsh language from extinction 

§  1660s:  Religious Persecution of the non-conformists + land enclosures

® EMIGRATION mainly to the American colonies

§  1730s: Methodism spreads in Wales ® schools set up in every parish 

§  18th c: Wales is one of the most literate countries in the world!!

§  1740s: Industrial Revolution in full swing: Wales is a leading iron, copper, slate producer. South Wales becomes the “iron and steel capital of the world” (Rhondda and Rhimmey Valleys)

§  1790s:    ú  Canal + Road building

ú  Miners riot for higher wages

ú  2nd wave of enclosures

® EMIGRATION to America or to industrial areas in England

§  1811  Methodist Church is established ® boosted Welsh nationalism: Wales becomes a NONCONFORMIST nation (non-Anglican)

§  1815  Economic depression: many mines close ® lead + iron works close

® chartist (working class) rallies, riots demanding improved working conditions and more pay

§  1850  South Wales Valleys are transformed: large scale coal mining

Welsh children schooled in English only ® survival of the Welsh language at stake

§  1848 Trinity College (Anglican) established

§  1858 Normal College  (for Nonconformist students) founded

§  1867 The Great Reform Act enfranchised working class men in the UK ® Liberal Party wins

David Lloyd George

Aneurin Bevan

§  1861  1st National Eisteddfod held (since 1567)

§  1872  1st university opens (Aberystwyth)

§  1870s: rugby becomes the national sport

§  1904  Great religious revival

§  1908  David Lloyd George becomes Chancellor of the UK (“People’s Budget”, Parliament Act)

§  1914-8 World War I  (Anglo-Welsh identity)

§  1916  Lloyd George becomes the 1st Welsh Prime Minister of the UK

§  1920 Church of Wales (Anglican Church in Wales) is disestablished

§  1925  Playd Cymru (Natioanalist Party of Wales) founded: demands self-government (=devolution) for Wales

§  1939-45 World War II

§  1946 National Health Insurance produced by Aneurin Bevan: a Welsh coalminer who became a trade unionist and a politician, owing to his talents as a speaker,  1945-51 he was the Health Minister

§  1940s massive immigration from England into Wales 

§  1947 1st Welsh-medium primary school established (Aberystwyth)

          1st International Eisteddfod at Llangollen ® it is celebrated every year since 1947

§  1955  Cardiff becomes the (first official) capital of Wales (the ancient "capital" used to be Caernarvon in the North-West of Wales)

§  1956  1st Welsh-medium secondary school

§  1962  Welsh Language Society is established: used civil disobedience demanding the legal status of the Welsh language, TV facilities, road signs in Welsh…

§  1964  Secretary of State for Wales created

§  1967  The Welsh Language Act: recognized the legal status of the Welsh language

§  1974  13 counties reorganized into 8 new counties

§  1977  Radio Cymru and Radio Wales established

§  1979  Referendum on the creation of a Welsh assembly: turned down

§  1982  S4C: 1st Welsh TV channel established

§  1984 Margaret Thatcher’s economic restructuring: closed the Welsh coal mines ® the Miners’ Strike, She appointed Englishmen as Welsh Secretaries of State

§  1997  Successful Referendum in Wales on voting for limited self-government ®

§  1999  Establishment of the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff:

ú  Devolution: control over domestic Welsh affairs: economy, health and education 

ú  Laws passed in Westminster still apply to Wales

ú  The Secretary of State for Wales + the Welsh MPs still represent Wales in London