Cymru

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Cymru
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BRYTHON (Britons)
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BUDDUG
Boudica of the Iceni
60-61AD
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Embankment, London.
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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.

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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 post-Roman
  culture, such figures as Arthur emerged.

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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.

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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 (ltsaksones)
  Saxons.

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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.

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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 (ieCeltic) heroes, saints and above
  all political autonomy.

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Wales- Cymru- Pays de Galles

• In inhabitants of Wales were soon cut off from
  the Britons (ieCelts) 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.

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Britain c.600AD
Cumbria
Elmet
Wales
Cornwall
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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?

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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).

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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).

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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.

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Wales as a separate entity

• In the North traditions claimed that their
  dynasty had been founded by Britons from Northern
  Britain, in particular Cunedda.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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THE LLYWELYN DYNASTY

• Gruffudd ap Cynan 1137
• Owain Gwynedd 1170
• Llywelyn the Great 1240
• Gruffudd
• Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf 1282
• (only descendant Gwenllian)

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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.

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War against the english king

• Edward I

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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.

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The monument to Llywelyn
Cilmeri The Battle of Irfon Bridge 1282
(December) Llywelyn killed by Stephen de Frankton
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The Building of the castles of wales

• Edward Is legacy

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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

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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.

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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.

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CAERNARFON

• The site in Caernarfon had been a court (llys)
  for Llywelyn and his father before the latters
  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 Contantines city of
  Constantinople.

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THE BIRTH OF A PRINCE

• Edward Is son was born in Caernarfon castle in
  1284. he became king Edward II in 1307.
• He was named Prince of Wales in 1301.

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Caernarfon Castle
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Caernarfon Castle
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Conwy Castle
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The Castles of Wales
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Harlech Castle
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Beaumaris Castle Anglesey
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