736 Wales
Waldenses: Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe
(Oxford: Blackwell, 2000); Walter L. Wakefield and
Austin Evans, eds., Heresies of the High Middle Ages
(1969; reprint, New York: Columbia University Press,
1969), 200–242, 278–289, 346–351.
Wales (Cymru) Medieval Wales was a mountainous
country in the western peninsula of Britain. Strongly
Celtic, it had its foundation as a distinct political, linguis-
tic, and cultural unit with the building by the English
king Offa of Mercia (r. 757–796) of an earthwork wall,
called Offa’s Dike, that divided Wales from Anglo-Saxon
England. Wales grew to consist of a number of petty
kingdoms, each ruled by its own ruling dynasty. The
principal ones were at Gwynedd in the north, at Powys in
the center, at Dyfed in the southwest, and at Morgannwg
or Glamorgan in the southeast. There were temporary
unifications of these kingdoms under individual rulers
such as Rhodri Mawr the Great of Gwynedd (r. 844–878)
or Hywel Dda the Good of Dyfed (r. 942–950). At their
deaths these kingdoms went their separate ways, a trend
that continued even during the VIKINGinvasions. At last
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn (r. 1039–63), who attained power
in Gwynedd in 1039, aggressively managed to extend his
rule over most of Wales. The English responded to this
by invading, as they were to do many times in the future.
Resisting these invasions led by HAROLDwith some suc-
cess, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was eventually killed by his
own men, and the Welsh princes temporarily became the
clients of EDWARD THECONFESSOR.
NORMAN EXPANSION AND EQUILIBRIUMAfter the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, there
was an effort to establish stability on the borders of the
two regions. This led to the founding of the earldoms on
the border with Wales of Chester, Shrewsbury, and Here-
ford by WILLIAMI THECONQUEROR. Nonetheless, ambi-
tious Norman adventurers independently moved to carve
lordships or kingdoms out of Wales for themselves. By
these intrusions they made themselves local rulers and
soon received royal recognition as Marcher lords or as
Anglo-Norman lords ruling in parts of Wales by right of
conquest, but they were not actually part of the Norman
kingdom. These Anglo-Norman magnate families exer-
cised control of most of eastern Wales with the western
part left under the control of native but usually peaceful
rulers. By the mid-12th century, balance, peace, and equi-
librium was the usual situation along the border and with
the English, as cultural interaction and intermarriage
took place. This was an era rich in poetic accomplish-
ment and reform of the Welsh church and law.
CONFLICT AND WARFARE WITH ENGLANDIn the late 12th century, under LLEWELYNFawr ab Iorw-
erth, this tense but generally peaceful coexistence
changed as he tried to establish a principality encompass-
ing all of Wales. He accomplished this by 1200 during the
reign of King JOHNwith the help of the French king,
PHILIP II Augustus. He even married the illegitimate
daughter of the hard-pressed King John. Forced to com-
promise with Llywelyn’s participation in the barons’
rebellion and in the temporary reconciliation of MAGNA
CARTA, John recognized Llewelyn’s rights and control, in
exchange for which Llewelyn paid homage to the English
Crown on behalf of himself and all the Welsh lords.
John’s successor, Henry III, was not willing to accept
a permanent united Wales on his western border and the
relationship was much more confrontational until the
Treaty of Montgomery in 1267, when Wales was recog-
nized as essentially a sovereign principality. LLEWELLYN
APGRUFFYDD, by then the prince of Wales, tried to put
his principality on a sounder military, financial, and
administrative footing. This project was halted, however,
when the new king of England, EDWARDI, decided on the
conquest of Wales. Llewellyn was forced to seek terms in
the Treaty of Aberconwy of 1277, which left him with
only his ancestral lands at Gwynedd. After a period of
tense peace, war began again; the prince was killed on
December 11, 1282, and his brother was captured and
executed a few months later, marking the end of Welsh
independence.INTEGRATION INTO THE KINGDOM OF ENGLAND
The Statute of Wales of 1284 established a new adminis-
trative regime for the principality now tied to the English
Crown. The title of prince of Wales was granted in 1301
to the king’s eldest surviving son, in this case the future
EDWARDII. There were scattered revolts throughout the
14th century, but in general terms accommodation with
England yielded prosperity for the first half of the century.
This was also the era of the great poetic accomplishments
of DAFYDD APGWILYM. Wales was affected by the plagues
and the social, economic, and severe population declines
of the mid-14th century. There were a growing discontent
among the Welsh lords and a definite rise in ethnic ten-
sion between them and the mostly urban English
colonists. In 1400, the Welsh, led by OWAINGLYNDWR,a
descendant of the Powys and Deheubarth dynasties,
revolted. The rising lasted 10 years, but the resources and
determination of the English Crown were strong and its
was suppressed. The leaders of the native ruling commu-
nity nonetheless continued to exercise considerable power
and control because of their loyalty to the English Crown.
The victors of the WARS OF THEROSES, the Lancastrian
House of TUDORhad strong roots in Wales, which superfi-
cially mitigated many of the tensions between the two
peoples, as the king of England, Henry VII Tudor (r.
1485–1509), was seen by many to be Welsh. In 1536,
Wales officially became part of the English kingdom.
See alsoGERALD OFWALES;HENRYV, KING OFEN-
GLAND; MABINOGI.