Transcript Cymru

CYMRU
BRYTHON
(Britons)
BUDDUG
Boudica
of the Iceni
60-61AD
Embankment, London.
ROMANO-BRITONS
During the Roman period the Britons (bilingual)
had adopted much of the cultural world of
Rome.
 After their departure, they kept many of these
customs (some knowledge of Latin, Roman
names, Christianity, governance). This memory
of having been Roman citizens lasted certainly
until the time of Llywelyn the Great in the !2th
century.

CYMRY- WELSHMEN AND WOMEN
At the same time, especially in western Britain
and what would become Wales, the Celtic
culture of pre-Roman times persisted.
Especially language, the bardic system, and the
emphasis on aristocracy and the rule by
heriditary chieftains.
 In this context with the admixture of postRoman culture, such figures as Arthur
emerged.

ARTHUR? KING OR GENERAL?
We cannot know if Arthur existed, although the
earliest references to him suggest a war-lord of
some description in the late 5th century.
 He was a Romano-Briton, spoke bad Latin and
Brittonic/early Welsh, fought against Saxons,
Britons, Picts and possibly the Irish.
 If he existed at all, he was never a king.
 He is the ultimate Romano-British hero, after the
Romans had gone. A hybrid Briton, a superficial
Christian, who because of his charisma attracted
others to him.

NEW REGIMES
The Britons, Romano-Britons or Cymry created
new kingdoms especially in the north and west.
In the east, and south east, new settlements
cme about. These were the Germanic speaking
peoples from NW Europe.
 The Welsh called them SAESON (<*saksones)=
Saxons.

ENGLAND – A HYBRID COUNTRY?
When the Saxons settled mostly peacefully,
they must have found large numbers of Britons
as well. Mainly farm-workers, and probably
unilingual in very early Welsh.
 What happened to them?
 We know that in England especially the south,
and NE, English (Englisc) became the
predominant language. In the west Welsh
prevailed.

WALES- CYMRU- PAYS DE GALLES
And it was in Wales, that Celtic culture was
mostly preserved and promoted after the 6th
century AD.
 Nowhere were the ties to the past stronger.
 A past which the Welsh remembered as a
Golden Age of British (ie=Celtic) heroes, saints
and above all political autonomy.

WALES- CYMRU- PAYS DE GALLES
In inhabitants of Wales were soon cut off from
the Britons (ie=Celts) of Cornwall and Cumbria
(northern Britain) by the expansion of the
Germanic kingdoms of Wessex, and
Northumbria.
 The Vikings too, who assumed power on the
Isle of Man and later Ireland were able to
attack the Welsh coastal areas.

Cumbria
Elmet
Britain
c.600AD
Wales
Cornwall
WALES- CYMRU- PAYS DE GALLES

In most ways Wales became by the late centuries of
the first millenium a highly conservative and isolated
people.

Yet, the Welsh language, one of the three languages
that derived from Brittonic (=British Celtic), survived
through the centuries until our own day (600,000
speakers -2013).
When did Wales ‘begin’?

WALES AS A SEPARATE ENTITY.
Before c600, Britain was divided into Germanic
speakers and Welsh speakers.
 The Welsh had called themselves ‘Brython”
(Britons) but although this word was retained in
literature for many more centuries, it mainly
replaced by the word ‘Cymry’ (fellow
countrymen and women).

WALES AS A SEPARATE ENTITY.
Cymry was mainly used by those in the far west
(later Wales) and in the NW of Britain- the
‘Cumbrians’ (cf Cumberland St).
 Those who emigrated to Brittany, retained the
name ‘Britons’ (Bretons, Breiziz).
 Eventually the area which became “Wales’ was
named Cymru ( a variant of Cymry).

WALES AS A SEPARATE ENTITY
As much as anything, Wales owes its early
existence to the various small kingdoms which
emerged in the period 400-1000AD.
 From the cleric Gildas we have the names of
five regional Welsh kings during the 500s AD.
 Two kingdoms in particular emerged: Gwynedd
in the NW and Dyfed in the SW.

WALES AS A SEPARATE ENTITY

In the North traditions claimed that their
dynasty had been founded by Britons from
Northern Britain, in particular Cunedda.
WALES AS A SEPARATE ENTITY
The 800s were a turning point in the history of
Wales.
 This was a time which saw a new political
power , the descendants of Merfyn Frych. He
ultimately was the founder of the very powerful
Llywelyn dynasty of Gwynedd, and all Wales.
 His son Rhodri Mawr engaged in border warfare
with the English.

WALES AS A SEPARATE ENTITY
His son Anarawd was given the title ‘king of the
Britons’ which was reserved for the most
powerful Welsh kings.
 One of the most influencial of such kings was
Hywel Dda- the lawmaker, and often seen by
the medieval Welsh as an ideal of kingship.
 900s AD.

WALES- CYMRU- PAYS DE GALLES
Although Wales was still a collection of
kingdoms (5 in all), we see the beginnings of a
desire for some form of unity.
 Under Hywel Dda (Hywel the ‘Good’), Wales
codified its law system (no small matter for a
nation that wants to find a sense of unity). He
had a vast territory which had brough most of
Wales under his rule.

THE LLYWELYN DYNASTY
Gruffudd ap Cynan 1137
 Owain Gwynedd 1170
 Llywelyn the Great 1240
 Gruffudd
 Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf 1282
 (only descendant Gwenllian)

WALES- CYMRU- PAYS DE GALLES
This early Welsh society had evolved a kind of
‘tribal’ society in which blood relationships
were all-important.
 This society was found in scattered settlements
called maenors, groups of which formed
cantrevs, the basic unit of royal administration.

WAR AGAINST THE ENGLISH KING

Edward I
WALES- CYMRU- PAYS DE GALLES




Llywelyn was killed shortly before the battle of Irfon
Bridge in mid Wales on 11 December 1282.
Llywelyn, the last native Prince of Wales, was
beheaded.
His brother Dafydd fought on for another year.
Welsh independence was at an end. Wales became
an integral, if troublesome, part of the realm of
England.
THE MONUMENT TO LLYWELYN
Cilmeri
The Battle of Irfon
Bridge
1282 (December)
Llywelyn killed by
Stephen de Frankton
Edward I’s legacy
THE BUILDING OF THE CASTLES OF WALES
THE CASTLES OF WALES

Most of the castles in Wales today date from
the period of the defeat of the Welsh after
1282

Dolwyddelan is however a native Welsh Castle:
CAERNARFON
Caernarfon occupies a special place in the
history of Wales.
 It had been an important Roman garrison in the
first three centuries AD. (Segontium)
 The Roman connections continued.
 The connection with Macsen Wledig (Magnus
Maximus) in medieval Welsh literature.

CAERNARFON

His son Publicus (according to legend), became
a local religious leader and gives his name in
Welsh (Peblig) to the church (Llanbeblig), the
mother church of Caernarfon.
CAERNARFON
The site in Caernarfon had been a court (llys)
for Llywelyn and his father before the latter’s
defeat at Cilmeri.
 The building of the magnificent castle took
place between 1283-1330.
 The idea was to build a castle that would echo
the walls of the emperor Contantine”s city of
Constantinople.

THE BIRTH OF A PRINCE
Edward I’s son was born in Caernarfon castle in
1284. he became king Edward II in 1307.
 He was named Prince of Wales in 1301.

CAERNARFON CASTLE
CAERNARFON CASTLE
CONWY CASTLE
THE CASTLES OF WALES
HARLECH CASTLE
BEAUMARIS CASTLE ANGLESEY