About
Wales
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About
Wales |
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INTRODUCTION - The About Wales Section is a growing area that is expanding almost daily. Please see the menu system on the left and select a subject from there. There are many hyperlinks yet to be completed - please be patient! Wales (Welsh: Cymru; pronounced /'Kumree', ) is one of the nations composing the United Kingdom. (The term 'Principality of Wales', Welsh: 'Tywysogaeth Cymru', though often used, is rejected by many in Wales, the Prince of Wales having no role in the governance of Wales.)
History The Romans established a string of forts across the southern part of the country, as far west as Carmarthen (Maridunum). There is evidence that they progressed even further west. They also built the legionary fortress at Caerleon (Isca), whose magnificent amphitheatre is the best preserved in Britain. The Romans were also busy in north Wales, and an old legend claims that Magnus Maximus, one of the last emperors, married Elen or Helen, the daughter of a Welsh chieftain from Segontium, near present-day Caernarfon. Wales was never conquered by the Saxons, due to the fierce resistance of its people and its mountainous terrain. A Saxon king, Offa of Mercia, is credited with having constructed a great earth wall, or dyke, along the border with his kingdom, to mark off a large part of Powys which he had conquered from the Welsh. Parts of Offa's Dyke can still be seen today. Wales remained a Celtic region, and its people kept speaking the Welsh language, even as the Celtic elements of neighbouring England and Scotland gradually disappeared. The name 'Wales' is evidence of this, as it comes from a Germanic root meaning "stranger", and as such is related to Wallonia, the Swiss Wallis/Valais, and Wallachia in Romania, also regions where a 'strange' (non-Germanic) language was spoken. Wales continued to be a Christian country when its neighbour, England, was overrun by German and Scandinavian tribes, though many older beliefs and customs survived among its people. Thus, Saint David went on a pilgrimage to Rome during the 6th century, and was serving as a bishop in Wales well before Augustine arrived to convert the king of Kent and founded the diocese of Canterbury. Although the Druidic religion is alleged to have had its stronghold in Wales until the Roman invasion, many of the so-called traditions, such as the gorsedd or assembly of bards, were the invention of eighteenth-century "historians". The traditional women's Welsh costume, incorporating a tall black hat, was devised in the nineteenth century by Lady Llanover, herself a prominent patron of the Welsh language and culture. The Norman conquest of Wales did not take place in 1066, when England was conquered, but was gradual, not being complete until 1282, when King Edward I of England defeated Llywelyn the Last, Wales' last independent prince, in battle. Edward constructed a series of great stone castles in order to keep the Welsh under control. The best known are at Caernarfon, Conway and Harlech.
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About
Wales
