Уельс / Wales

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Wales (: Cymru) is a principality and one of the four constituent parts of the . Wales is located in the south-west of and is bordered by , , and to the east, the to the south, in the west, and the to the north.

The term Principality of Wales, in Welsh, Tywysogaeth Cymru, is often used, although the has no role in the governance of Wales and this term is unpopular among some. Wales has not been politically independent since , when it was conquered by King . The capital of Wales since has been , although is the location where the Prince of Wales is invested, and was the home of a parliament called by during his revolt at the start of the fifteenth century. In , the was formed, which has limited domestic powers and cannot make law.

History

The established a string of forts across what is now southern Wales, as far west as (Maridunum), and mined gold at in Carmarthenshire. There is evidence that they progressed even further west. They also built the legionary fortress at (Isca), whose magnificent is the best preserved in Britain. The Romans were also busy in northern Wales, and an old legend claims that , one of the last emperors, married Elen or Helen, the daughter of a Welsh chieftain from Segontium, near present-day .

Wales was never conquered by the Anglo-Saxons, due to the fierce resistance of its people and its mountainous terrain. An Anglo-Saxon king, , 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. Parts of can still be seen today.

Wales remained a region, and its people kept speaking the , even as the Celtic elements of and gradually disappeared. The name Wales is evidence of this, as it comes from a Germanic root word meaning stranger or foreigner, and as such is related to the names of several other European regions where Germanic peoples came into contact with non-Germanic cultures including in and in , as well as the "-wall" of . Part of the word "Cymru" is evident in the "Cum-" of and .

Wales continued to be Christian (see and ) when England was overrun by pagan German and Scandinavian tribes, though many older beliefs and customs survived among its people. Thus, (Dewi Sant) went on a pilgrimage to Rome during the , and was serving as a bishop in Wales well before arrived to convert the king of and found the . Although the religion is alleged to have had its stronghold in Wales until the Roman invasion, many of the so-called traditions, such as the , 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 conquest of Wales by England did not take place in , when England was conquered by the , but was gradual, not being complete until , when King defeated , Wales's last independent prince, in battle. Edward constructed a series of great stone in order to keep the Welsh under control. The best known are at , , , and . Wales was legally annexed by the , in the reign of . The provided that all laws that applied to England would automatically apply to Wales (and , a town located on the Anglo-Scottish border) unless the law explicitly stated otherwise. This act, with regard to Wales, was repealed in .

Politics

Wales, when independent, was rarely a united entity. Since the end of rule in Britain, Wales had been a number of small kingdoms where occasionally one would be in a position to be able to dominate the others. During the 12th Century the title "" was no longer used by local Welsh rulers and they began using the title "" in their dealings with the English crown and other territories. This was because they were compelled to pay to the English sovereign and could only do so if they conceded that they were a prince, and not a fellow king. In the 13th Century the rulers of the most powerful principality, , were afforded the title "" by the English king.

As such, Wales has been a since the , initially under the Welsh prince , and later under his grandson, , who took the title around , and was recognised by the English Crown in by the . Following his defeat by , however, Welsh independence in the was limited to a number of minor revolts. The greatest such revolt was that of , who gained popular support in , and defeated an English force at in