Was there a Wales between 1064 and 1536?

Answer 1

The earliest inhabitants of Wales, like those of the rest of Britain, were a short, dark race, generally referred to as Iberians. These were succeeded by Celts, possibly first of the Gaelic division, although in the earliest historic times Wales, like Britain, was occupied by Cymric or Brythonic Celts. At the time of the coming of the Romans in 55 BC, the tribes of Wales represented a mixture of the primitive Iberians with the later invading Celts. They bore the general name of Cymry.



After a long struggle the subjugation of these tribes was completed during the ten-year reign of the Roman emperor Vespasian in the 1st century AD. The Celtic inhabitants of Britain, fleeing before the wave of Anglo-Saxon invasion, took refuge in the Welsh mountains, where, in time, they were merged with their native kin and maintained their independence against the Teutonic conquerors. The country was divided into several areas, of which Gwynedd, Gwent, Dyved, and Powys were the most important. Offa's Dyke, built during the reign of Offa, king of Mercia, was an earthwork extending the length of the Welsh border; it helped isolate the Welsh from the English.

Subjugation By England

Between 1062 and 1064 Harold Godwinson (later Harold II) overran Wales with an English army after a struggle with Gruffydd ap Llewellyn, king of Gwynedd. William I, the Conqueror, forced recognition of his sovereignty from the Welsh princes, but they raided the English border, for protection of which the early Norman kings erected a number of feudal lordships with very extensive powers, the so-called lords of the marches. The marcher lords were a turbulent class and a source of trouble to the kings, but they served their purpose in holding the Welsh back. In 1136 the Welsh won a victory over Henry I, King of England, but were again reduced to homage by Henry II. Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of North Wales, sided with Simon de Montfort against Henry III, but later submitted to the king. In 1273, however, he refused to pay homage to the new English king, Edward I, who in 1276 invaded Wales and compelled Llewellyn to submit to humiliating terms, including the surrender of the eastern portion of his lands and the annual acknowledgment of fealty. Llewellyn rebelled in 1282, but died, and his brother David ap Gruffydd, who carried on the struggle, was captured in 1283 and beheaded. In 1284 Edward I completed the conquest of Wales and, by the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan, it became an English principality.

Last Rebellion

In 1301 Edward I conferred on his oldest surviving son, later King Edward II, who was born in Caernarfon (Caernarvon), Wales, the title of Prince of Wales. This sufficiently satisfied the pride of the Welsh to keep them loyal for 100 years. It has become traditional for the firstborn son of each monarch to be given the title of Prince of Wales. The national spirit survived, however, and was nourished by the songs of the bards. When Henry IV seized the English throne, a revolt began in Wales, which, under the leadership of Owen Glendower in 1402, became formidable. Henry IV repeatedly invaded the country, but the revolt was not suppressed until the death of Glendower, about 1416. Glendower's was the last national uprising. The Welsh submitted to Henry VII, the first Tudor king, whom they regarded as their countryman. Tudor policy toward Wales stressed assimilation and equality. By the Act of Union of 1536 Wales was incorporated with England, its inhabitants receiving all the rights and privileges of English subjects. Welsh representatives then took their seats in the English Parliament, and customary Welsh laws that differed with those of England were abolished. The Welsh gentry continued to exercise local authority in the name of the monarch, from whom they held their lands.

C. Welsh Nationalism

In time, however, the anglicization of the gentry created a breach in Welsh society, which was further deepened by religious differences. Slow to adopt Protestantism, the Welsh people were decidedly cool to Oliver Cromwell's Puritanism and had to be persuaded by force. In the 18th century they began to lean heavily toward Calvinism, and the growth of the Calvinistic Methodist Church was an assertion of Welsh nationalism; it culminated in 1920 in the disestablishment of the English church in Wales. This coincided with party politics, for the Welsh voted overwhelmingly for the Liberal Party, which supported disestablishment. Wales in turn supplied the party with one of its most forceful leaders, David Lloyd George.

Welsh nationalism has been kept alive up to the present by the Plaid Cymru Party (founded in 1925), which has at times elected members to the British Parliament and otherwise kept pressure on the major parties to protect the special interests of Wales. In 1979 a Labour Party plan to devolve some powers to an elected assembly in Wales was voted down by the Welsh people by a margin of four to one. The Conservative Party that was elected later that year dropped any further plans for a Welsh government. In 1997 the Labour Party came into power supporting the idea of devolving some of Parliament's powers to national legislatures in Scotland and Wales. In a referendum held in September 1997 barely more than half of Welsh voters supported the creation of a Welsh assembly (50.3 for, 49.7 against). Elections were held in early May 1999, and the Welsh assembly convened later that month in Cardiff.

Answer 2

No there has never been a soveriegn state of Wales, Wales was pre-English conquest divided into several Kingdoms, however Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd and Powys, did control more of modern day Wales than anybody else ever did. By the time of the English annexation in 1282 when King Llywelyn II was defeated by Edward I, Wales was again its traditional independant Kingdoms.

There are some claims that France, Spain and Scotland, recongised Wales as independent in 1404 when Owain Glyndŵr led a rising, called a parliament and was crowned in the presence of these countries as the Prince of Wales however this did not last for very long.

So despite some of the more successful native Kings conquering more than others, Wales never existed as an independent state

Answer 3

Absolutely, Wales was in existence long before England.

A branch of Celtic peoples settled Wales long before the Anglo-Saxons occupied what is now England. England derived its name from the Angles.

Answer 4

Yes there was because at that time a concerted effort was being waged against both the Saxons and The Normans to preserve 'Pura Wallia' by the Welsh.

Answer 5

Yes Wale's as long been there,it exists to this day as a Celtic region

Answer 6

Yes there was and here are a few of the things happening there over that period:

1039-63: Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, the last of the Welsh high-kings, re-unites most of Wales. Earl Harold, the future king of England, drives his army into Wales in 1063 and Gruffydd is killed.

1066: The Norman Conquest of England. Harold is killed at Hastings and the Norman Marcher Lords are established along the Welsh borderlands.


1067: Chepstow Castle is started by William fitz Osbern.

1090: First Norman castle at Cardiff.

1094: Normans repelled from Gwynedd and Dyfed.

1115: Norman bishop installed at St Davids.

1143: Cistercians found Whitland Abbey.


1196-1240: Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (the Great) rules as Prince of Gwynedd and later most of Wales. (right)

1215: English barons force King John into signing the Magna Carta. Limited rights for Wales.

1246-82: Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (the Last), Prince of Gwynedd rules much of Wales.

1267: Treaty of Montgomery signed by Henry III, ratifying Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's claim to the title "Prince of Wales."

1270-1320: Tintern Abbey built.

1276-77: First War of Welsh Independence.

1277: Llywelyn signs Treaty of Aberconwy, ending the First Welsh War and reversing the gains of the Treaty of Montgomery (1267). Edward I begins Aberystwyth, Flint and Rhuddlan castles.


1282-83: Second War of Welsh Independence. Llywelyn's brother Dafydd rises up against Edward I.

1283: Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech castles started.

1284: Treaty of Rhuddlan signed by Edward I.

1294: Revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn. Caernarfon Castle burned.

1295: Beaumaris Castle started.

1301: Edward revives title of "Prince of Wales" and bestows it on his son Edward II.

1349: The Black Death sweeps Wales, leaving casualties of up to 40 percent.


1400-12: Third War of Welsh Independence. Owain Glyndwr's revolt. (right)

1416: Owain Glyndwr dies in hiding.

1471: Edward IV's Council of Welsh Marches at Ludlow.

1485: Accession of Henry VII to the throne after landing from exile at Pembroke and defeating Richard III at Bosworth, establishing Welsh lineage on the English throne.

1536-38: Henry VIII suppresses the monasteries.

1536-43: Acts of Union: legislation forming the union of Wales and England. Equal rights but with a separate legal and administrative system conducted wholly in English.

Answer 7

Of course there was, swimming around the world doing whaley things and getting harpooned for their troubles. Not many left now, so after all this time we are starting to win.........

Answer 8

Yes ,it had a flag in the 700's

Answer 9

Er ... yes. It might not have been entirely independent during that period, but it did exist.

Answer 10

Yes. v=Yes. Yes.

Answer 11

of course