A Concise History of Wales

328 Pages·2014·4.266 MB·English

by  Geraint H. Jenkins

CAMBRIDGE CONCISE HISTORIES
Titles in the series:
AConciseHistoryofAustralia
STUART MACINTYRE
AConciseHistoryofBolivia
HERBERT S. KLEIN
AConciseHistoryofBrazil
BORIS FAUSTO
AConciseHistoryofBritain,1707–1795
W. A. SPECK
AConciseHistoryofBulgaria2ndedition
R. J. CRAMPTON
AConciseHistoryofFinland
DAVID KIRBY
AConciseHistoryofFrance2ndedition
ROGER PRICE
AConciseHistoryofGermany2ndedition
MARY FULBROOK
AConciseHistoryofGreece2ndedition
RICHARD CLOGG
AConciseHistoryofHungary
MIKLO´S MOLNA´R
AConciseHistoryofIndia
BARBARA D. METCALF and THOMAS R. METCALF
AConciseHistoryofItaly
CHRISTOPHER DUGGAN
AConciseHistoryofMexico
BRIAN R. HAMNETT
AConciseHistoryofNewZealand
PHILIPPA MEIN SMITH
AConciseHistoryofPoland
JERZY LUKOWSKI and HUBERT ZAWADZKI
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AConciseHistoryofPortugal2ndedition
DAVID BIRMINGHAM
AConciseHistoryofSouthAfrica
ROBERT ROSS
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PREFACE
Formidablethoughthetaskpromisedtobe,foravarietyofreasons
Iwasverypleasedtoacceptthiscommission.Ihadalwaysbelieved,
and still do, that no self-respecting historian should forego the
opportunity of writing the entire history of his or her native land.
I also relished the intellectual challenge of preparing a conciseand
digestibleaccountthatwouldnotfallintothetrapofsqueezingthe
life out of the past. Moreover, the prospect of completing a work
whichwouldmeettheneedsofaninternationalaudienceaswellas
thepeopleofWaleswastootemptingtoresist.Walesanditshistory
deservestobemuchmorewidelyknownandappreciated.
Ihavetriedtogivedueweighttoevents,movementsandideasin
eachperiod,andifthechaptersonthemodernperiodaresomewhat
longerthantheothersthissimplyreflectsthefactthatthematerial
availablesincethecomingoftheprintedwordismuchmorevolu-
minous and diverse. A book of this kind inevitably owes an irre-
deemable debt to a great many scholars, both past and present,
whose work has stimulated me profoundly. The further reading
listattheendofthevolumeindicatesmyprincipaldebts,thoughI
have also ventured (gingerly in some periods) into the thickets of
original sources, as well as into a mass of articles and Welsh-
languagepublications.Idohopethatthereaderwillsensethatthe
critical synthesis presented here is flavoured with my own ideas,
interpretations and the very occasional and pardonable bout of
partiality. Most of all, I hope that the book conveys the richness
andvitalityofthehistoryofWales.
xi
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xii Preface
It’s a particular pleasure to thank several colleagues for their
assistance. Miranda and Stephen Aldhouse-Green, Robert
Johnston, John T. Koch, Huw Pryce, Paul O’Leary, Russell
Davies, Neil Evans, Steven Thompson and Chris Williams read
drafts of chapters, commented critically upon them and saved me
from many errors and infelicities. I gratefully acknowledge their
kindness. My greatest debt, however, is to the late Glanmor
Williams, whose generosity in improving the work of colleagues
and friends was proverbial. He read the best part of the typescript
andkeptmyspiritsbuoyantbyofferingconstantadviceandencour-
agement. I like to think that he would have enjoyed reading the
whole printed version. Needless to say, I alone am responsible for
theerrorsandinadequacieswhichremain.
My personal assistant, Nia Davies, cheerfully transformed my
long-hand scrawl into an immaculate typescript and helped me in
allmannerofwaystoensurethattheworkreachedthepublishersin
afitandpropercondition.Ithankhermostwarmly.Thestaffofthe
National Library of Wales proved to be unfailingly helpful and
courteous. I’m also grateful to John Jenkins, Paul Joyner, Penny
IckeandPatriciaMoorefortheirassistanceinselectingappropriate
illustrations,andtoAntonySmithforpreparingmostofthemaps.
WilliamHowellskindlypreparedtheindex.IsabelleDambricourtof
CambridgeUniversityPresswasamodelofpatienceandefficiency.
As always, I owe an enormous debt to my family. My wife Ann
knows better than anyone how much this book means to me and
howithasrobbedusofpreciousleisurehoursandvacations.Since
shehaslivedwiththisundertakingsinceitsinception,theveryleastI
candobywayofinadequaterecompenseistodedicateittoherwith
myloveandadmiration.
GeraintH.Jenkins
April2006
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1
The earliest inhabitants
In a dimly lit room in a secluded but sturdy farmhouse in early
eighteenth-century Cardiganshire, a gifted young Anglican ordi-
nand, aptly named Theophilus Evans, composed in his native lan-
guage an epic history of Wales which remained a bestseller until
thetwilightoftheVictorianera.EntitledDrychyPrifOesoedd(A
MirroroftheFirstAges)(1716),thisracyhistoricalnarrativeofthe
allegedlygloriousoriginsoftheWelshwasEvans’sspiritedriposte
toEnglishsatiristswhohadpaintedunflatteringportraitsofWales
as ‘a country in the world’s backside’ and as ‘the very rubbish of
Noah’sflood’.Asuperbstoryteller,hepackedhispageswithmore
heroesandgrippingincidentsthananynovelofbloodandthunder
might have done, and by conjuring up images of luminaries like
Gomer,Brutus,Beli,BraˆnandArthur(Boudica,styled‘Buddug’by
Evans,wastheonlyheroinetoelbowherwayintothispageant)he
caught the imagination of the Welsh reading public and deeply
shaped their view of the distant past. This was history, or perhaps
mythical writing, on a grand scale, and the vivid tales and heroic
victoriesanddefeatsinthisunashamedlyCambrocentricworkwere
so well tailored to the needs of a people desperately searching for
their own national identity that it became a popular classic, espe-
cially when editions in the Victorian era began including vivid
engravedillustrations.EventheWelshwhoemigratedinlargenum-
berstoPennsylvaniainthenineteenthcenturyinsistedonpublishing
anEnglishtranslationatEbensburgin1834,sothattheirAmerican-
born offspring could familiarize themselves with key events in the
1
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2 AConciseHistoryofWales
historyofthelandoftheirfathers.Inanextravaganteulogytothe
Welsheditionof1898,thehistorianO.M.Edwardsclaimedthatno
WelshhistorybookhadevermatchedEvans’spantheonofheroes.
An eminent modern Welsh archaeologist, who probably never
botheredtoreadtheoriginalversion,oncedescribedEvans’stheat-
ricalpageantas‘afairlydottybook’.Credulous,uncriticalandeven
dottyitmightappeartothemodernreader,butitwasaformative
influence in the development of ideas about the Welsh past. Like
mostofhiscontemporaries,theworld-viewofthisunlikelypeople’s
remembrancer was dominated by the literal meaning of the most
sacred scriptural text. At his side as he wrote, a copy of the Welsh
bible–themostauthoritativesourceforeveryChristianhistorian–
would have provided him not only with irrefutable proof of the
manner in which God had created the earth but also an avowedly
accurate chronology of the past. Taking his cue from the calcula-
tions made by James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh in the early
seventeenth century,he believed that the Creation had occurred in
4004 BC. Had he read John Lightfoot, the Cambridge scholar, he
would also have noted the precise time of 18 October 4004 BC,
swiftly followed by Adam’s creation (at 9 a.m.) five days later.
Startlingasitmayseemtous,Evanstookforgrantedthat,following
the Creation, humankind derived from Adam and that, after the
Flood,theworldhadbeenrepeopledbyNoah’sthreesons–Shem,
Ham andJaphet –andbytheirdescendants,mostnotablyGomer,
founderofthetribeknownastheCimbri,thefirstcolonizersofthe
landmasswhichbecameknownasWales.Themostsignificantpart
ofEvans’stale,therefore,washisproudaffirmationthattheWelsh
had enjoyed a privileged position in the events which unfolded
between the Creation and the Flood. In a second edition, he
declared:‘hereisthebloodandraceoftheoldWelsh,asexaltedas
anyearthlylineagecouldbe’.Inthecontextofthetime,thiswasa
dramaticallyreassuringstatement.
DuringtheWelshculturalrenaissanceoftheeighteenthcentury,
interestswiftlydevelopedinthestudyofancientBritainandtherole
of the Celtic peripheries, not least because of the attempts made
in Edward Lhuyd’s magisterial Archaeologia Britannica (The
ArchaeologyofBritain)(1707)tocelebratethehonourableancestry
oftheWelshbyprovidingthemwithseeminglyirrefutableproofof
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Theearliestinhabitants 3
the common origin of the Celtic languages. The notion of insular
Celtsthereforewascalledintobeingbythisremarkablyeruditeand
far-seeing Welsh polymath. Scholarly and unscholarly thinking
aboutthealleged‘Celticity’ofBritainandIrelandthusbeginswith
Lhuyd, and his position as keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford from 1691 to 1709 lent authority to his writings. As the
Welsh themselves began to discover, invent and re-invent literary,
historical and musical treasures, they derived comfort from the
knowledge that their identity was based on a history considerably
older than that of England. Members of the London-based
Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, founded in 1751, claimed
tobethedescendantsoftheaboriginalBritonsandaflurryoftopo-
graphical guides and paintings highlighted strikingly attractive
prehistoric remains. A wave of Romantic learning, which created
the most bizarre and extravagant fantasies about noble ancestors
knownasCelts,alsoplayedasignificantroleinrevivinginterestin
thehistoryofoneoftheoldestlivingliterarylanguagesinEurope.
AttheendoftheeighteenthcenturyTheophilusEvans’spatriotic
torchwastakenupbyEdwardWilliams,whowasbetterknownby
his bardic pseudonym Iolo Morganwg (Edward of Glamorgan).
TherehasbeennogreaterculturaliconinWalesthanthisastonish-
inglyeruditeandinventivestonemason.LiketheAnglicanTheophilus
Evans, this Unitarian wordsmith from Flemingston in the Vale of
Glamorganbelievedthatthebiblicalnarrativewasdivinelyinspired
andthatitprovidedtheonlyconvincingexplanationoftheorigins
of the universe and the diversity of human and animal life. In a
ringing declaration of faith in God’s handiwork, he wrote: ‘the
Almighty audibly proclaimed his existence and instantaneously
with that utterance all the creation with a shout of inexpressible
joy leapt into existence’. But Iolo Morganwg went much further
than Evans. Fuelled by copious supplies of laudanum and a heady
mixture of fact, fiction and extravagant fantasies, he became the
mostsuccessfulliteraryandhistoricalforgerinEurope.Inthefever-
ishhuntfortheWelshpast,Iolowastheleaderofthepackand,even
tothisday,heremainsadeeplymysteriousandcontroversialfigure.
Hewasfascinatedbybarrows,earthworks,hillfortsandespecially
stonecircles,andhiswritingsweresuffusedwithbardicanddruidic
lore. His most durable legacy was the Gorsedd of the Bards of the
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4 AConciseHistoryofWales
1.TheRomantichistorianandpoetEdwardWilliams(1747–1826),
universallyknownbyhisbardicnameIoloMorganwg,exertedan
enormousinfluenceonhowpeopleinterpretedtheprehistoricpast.This
painting,byWilliamOwenPughe,wasmadein1798.(TheNational
LibraryofWales)
Island of Britain, a remarkable druidic moot which first met on
Primrose Hill, London, in June 1792 and which was subsequently
incorporated into the official activities of the National Eisteddfod
of Wales. By attracting like-minded Druids, poets, scholars and
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Theearliestinhabitants 5
democratstothisintellectualforcing-house,Iolohopednotonlyto
popularizetheolddruidiclorebutalsotoadvancetheradicalcause
of Jacobinism and provide a new vision of Welsh nationality. A
nation exists and flourishes only in its collective memory, and this
first nationalinstitution wasdesignedtostiffenthe self-confidence
andprideofoneoftheforgottenpeoplesofEurope.IoloMorganwg’s
writingsexercisedaprofoundinfluenceonculturallifeinnineteenth-
centuryWalesandsuccessfullycloudedthejudgementofscholarsup
totheFirstWorldWar.
ThenetresultwasthatthestoryoftheCreation,ofNoahandthe
Flood, the dispersal of the nations, the descent of the Cimbrifrom
Japhet, son of Noah, and the role of the Druids as custodians
of knowledge and mythic lore became part of the warp and woof
of the cultural experience of Welsh people. The increasingly
Nonconformist population was thoroughly indoctrinated in the
biblical account of the origins of humankind. When, at a Sunday
schoolexaminationin1821,MargaretJonesofGanllwyd,Merioneth,
recited aloud with complete accuracy thirty-two chapters of the
Old Testament, shearticulated the common stock ofbeliefs which
chapel-goershelddear.Evenaslateas1890theyoungWelshscholar
John Morris-Jones stirred up a hornet’s nest when he spoke out
against the innocent blind faith of the Welsh in the historicity of
Gomer,sonofJaphet,sonofNoah.Ideasaboutarchaeology,prehis-
toryandhistorywerestillrudimentary,andtheliteralinterpretation
of Genesis continued to hold sway. The word ‘prehistoric’ did not
enter the vocabulary until 1851, and the lack of an accurate and
reliable time frame meant that the long sweep of geological and
historical time simply could not be imagined. It is significant that
the folk names bestowed on Welsh megalithic tombs – Carreg
Samson,BeddyrAfanc,BarclodiadyGawres–reflectedthescrip-
tural and classical narratives with which the public were so thor-
oughlyfamiliar.
Althoughnothingcanalterthefactthatthedependenceonscrip-
turaltestimonyandmythicallorewasinimicaltointellectualdevel-
opment, inquiring minds were beginning to turn to new forms of
investigation. In the 1830s the geologists Adam Sedgwick and
R.I. Murchison began to explore the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of
Wales and to develop classification systems such as ‘Cambrian’,
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