Welsh nationalism () emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture, Welsh language (yr Iaith Gymraeg) and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self-determination, which includes Welsh devolution, meaning increased powers for the Senedd, or full Welsh independence.
History
Before English conquest Wales first started to be thought of as a distinctive nation shortly after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire as Brythonic speaking people who lived across most of the island of Great Britain at that time . This identity further solidified during the Anglo-Saxon settlement and expansion of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms against native Welsh kingdoms starting around the 6th century. A part of this identity was made of a connection to Rome, with the Emperor Magnus Maximus being a popular figure that sub-Roman kings would claim legitimacy from, and The Dream of Macsen Wledig (Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig) being a popular story about the favour he gave Britain.
The Mabinogion are a collection of Welsh stories, compiled between the 11th to 13th century but are originally older shared oral traditions, with the main Four Branches of the Mabinogi (Pedair Cainc Y Mabinogi) including many pre-Christian elements.Sioned Davies. 2005. "'He Was the Best Teller of Tales in the World': Performing Medieval Welsh Narrative", in: Performing Medieval Narrative, 15–26. Cambridge: Brewer. This was also the time when King Arthur, a semi-legendary king appeared in Welsh writings as a leader of the Welsh / Britons against Anglo-Saxons, with the earliest sources referencing Arthur being Nennius' Historia Brittonum, and the Annales Cambriae written around the 9th and 10th centuries.John Morris (1973). The Age of Arthur, a history of the British Isles from 350 to 650, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson Nennius as well as another popular writer Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Britain) popularised founding mythology of Welsh kings as being descendants of Brutus of Troy, and was considered factual and largely accepted until the 20th century.Clark, John, "New Troy to Lake Village - the Legend of Prehistoric London", The London Archaeologist, 1983, Volume 4, issue 11, pp. 292–296.
The story of Lludd and Llefelys is possibly the origin of the red dragon as a symbol for the nation of Wales, where in the story it fights with a white dragon representing the Anglo-Saxons, this story also appears in the works of Nennius and Geoffrey.Lofmark, Carl (1995). A History of the Red Dragon. Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. .
Through most of this time there were many kingdoms in Wales; they also had connections to kingdoms in the north of modern day England, which is identified with the Old North (Hen Ogledd) that remained Brythonic speaking until the 12th century.
For some periods Wales was able to be unified by certain rulers, such as Hywel Dda, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and Rhodri the Great, but their lands were divided on their deaths because of Wales' traditional gavelkind inheritance. Hywel Dda instituted and codified many legal reforms the Cyfraith Hywel (Laws of Hywel) which would be the basis of most Welsh law until the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542.
Wales first appeared as a unified independent country from 1055 to 1063 under the leadership of the only King of Wales to have controlled all the territories of Wales, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Three years later the Normans invaded, and briefly controlled much of Wales, but by 1100 Anglo-Norman control of Wales was reduced to the lowland Gwent, Glamorgan, Gower, and Pembroke, regions which underwent considerable Anglo-Norman colonisation, while the contested border region between the Welsh princes and Anglo-Norman barons became known as the Welsh Marches.
English conquest and union Incursions from the English and Normans amplified divisions between Welsh kingdoms. In the 12th century, Norman king Henry II of England exploited differences between the three most powerful Welsh kingdoms, Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth, allowing him to make great gains in Wales. He defeated and then allied with Madog ap Maredudd of Powys in 1157, and used this alliance to overwhelm Owain Gwynedd. He then turned on Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, who finally submitted to him in 1171, effectively subjugating much of Wales to Henry's Angevin Empire.
In the 13th century, the last prince of Wales, Llywelyn the Last retained his rights to Wales in an agreement with Henry III in the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. Henry's successor, Edward I, disapproved of Llywelyn's alliance with Simon de Montfort, who revolted along with other barons against the English king in the Second Barons' War of 1264–1267; and so in 1276 Edward's army forced Llywelyn into an agreement that saw Llywelyn withdraw his powers to Gwynedd only. In 1282, whilst attempting to gather support in Cilmeri near Builth Wells, Llywelyn was killed. Llywelyn's brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, briefly led a force in Wales, but was captured and later hanged, drawn and quartered.
Since conquest, there have been Welsh rebellions against English rule. The last and most significant revolt was the Glyndŵr Rising of 1400–1415, which briefly restored independence. Owain Glyndŵr held the first Welsh parliament (Senedd) in Machynlleth in 1404, when he was proclaimed Prince of Wales, and a second parliament in 1405 in Harlech. After the eventual defeat of the Glyndŵr rebellion and a brief period of independence, it was not until 1999 that a Welsh legislative body was re-established as the National Assembly of Wales; it was renamed "Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament" in 2020.
In the 16th century, King Henry VIII of the Tudor dynasty (a royal house of Welsh origin) together with the English parliament, passed the Laws in Wales Acts, also referred to as the "Acts of Union", which incorporated Wales fully into the Kingdom of England. These were not democratic times, and these laws were passed without any democratic mandate. Nevertheless, their effect was to abolish the Welsh legal system and integrate Wales into the English legal system.Williams, G. Recovery, reorientation and reformation pp. 268–273 These Acts also gave political representation for Wales in the Westminster Parliament. The repressive measures against the Welsh that had been in place since the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr over a century earlier were removed. The Acts also stripped the Welsh language of its official status and role within Wales.
19th century The rapid industrialisation of parts of Wales, especially Merthyr Tydfil and adjoining areas, gave rise to strong and radical Welsh working class movements which led to the Merthyr Rising of 1831, the widespread support for Chartism, and the Newport Rising of 1839.D. J. V. Jones, "The Merthyr riots of 1831." Welsh History Review= Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru 3#2 (1966): 173.
With the establishment of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, nonconformism triumphed in Wales, and gradually the previous majority of conservative voices within the church allied themselves with the more radical and liberal voices within the older dissenting churches of the Baptists and Congregationalists. This radicalism was exemplified by the Congregationalist minister David Rees of Llanelli, who edited the radical magazine Y Diwygiwr (The Reformer) from 1835 until 1865. But he was not a lone voice: William Rees (also known as Gwilym Hiraethog) established the radical Yr Amserau (The Times) in 1843, and in the same year Samuel Roberts also established another radical magazine, Y Cronicl (The Chronicle). Both were Congregationalist pastors.Richard Carwardine, "The Welsh Evangelical Community and ‘Finney's Revival’." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 29#4 (1978): 463–480.
Iolo Morganwg was a antiquarian, poet and collector and an important figure in Welsh nationalism by preserving and popularising many Welsh works and traditions. However modern scholars believe some of the manuscripts he "found" were forgeries.Mary Jones (2003), "Y Myvyrian Archaiology". From Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11 June 2009 (in US only: WayBackMachine). He also founded the Gorsedd, a society of Welsh bards that is connected to the modern Eisteddfod, a Welsh literary, musical, and cultural event that Morganwg supported and was revived as the national Eisteddfod in 1861 and has been held almost every year since.Jones, Mary (2004). "Edward Williams/Iolo Morganwg/Iolo Morgannwg". From Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11 June 2009 (only USA, see: WayBackMachine).
Lady Charlotte Guest is also a notable figure for having translated and published modern editions of the Mabinogion, among other Welsh works.
Treason of the Blue Books Welsh nationalists were outraged by the Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of education in Wales in 1847. The reports had blue covers, and were ridiculed as Brad y Llyfrau Gleision, or in English, "The Treason of the Blue Books". They found the education system in Wales to be in a dreadful state; they condemned the Welsh language and Nonconformist religion. The commissioners' report is infamously known for its description of Welsh speakers as barbaric and immoral. Ralph Lingen was responsible for the Blue Books of 1846. By contrast the Reverend Henry Longueville Jones, Her Majesty's Inspector of church schools in Wales between 1848 and 1865, led the opposition to subordination to the education department under Lingen. Jones's reports supported bilingual education and praised the work of many church elementary schools. They came under attack in Whitehall. Jones failed to gain full support in Wales because of his Anglicanism and his criticisms of many certified teachers.
Liberal Nationalism In the late 19th and early 20th century the Liberal party was the dominant party in Wales, winning the vast majority of Welsh MPs in every election between 1880 and 1918. The two leading figures of Liberalism in Wales and even UK wide were Prime Ministers William Gladstone and David Lloyd George. Following thinkers like Richard Price, and the Welsh Methodist revival of the 18th century which was one of the most significant religious and social movements in the history of Wales, Welsh Liberalism was often viewed as radical. With the popularity of nonconformism in Wales, Gladstone's reforms and then Lloyd George's role in government led to the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales in 1914.
William Gladstone Despite not being born Welsh he married his Welsh wife Catherine, and lived and died in her estate in Hawarden in Flintshire, which is now the location of his library. He was therefore sympathetic to Welsh issues and under his premiership Wales would grow as a distinct political entity. In 1881 the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act was passed prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sundays in Wales, it was the first act since the annexation of Wales which applied only to Wales.John Davies, A History of Wales, 1993, Following the 1881 Aberdare report, Gladstone also passed major education reform acts, founding Cardiff University and Bangor University in 1883 and 1885, and then the University of Wales in 1893 (Aberystwyth University who also formed the University of Wales had been established privately in 1872). He also passed the Welsh Intermediate Education Act in 1889 reforming and expanding access to secondary education in Wales.
Cymru Fydd