Books: A Short History of Wales
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Owen M. Edwards >> A Short History of Wales
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The training of teachers became a matter of the highest importance.
In 1846 a college for this purpose was established at Brecon, and
then removed to Swansea. From 1848 to 1862, colleges were
established at Carmarthen, Carnarvon, and Bangor.
The history of secondary education is longer. It was served, after
the dissolution of the monasteries, by endowed schools--like that of
the Friars at Bangor--and by proprietary schools. By the Education
Act of 1889, a complete system of secondary schools, under popular
control, was established. Two of the endowed schools still remain--
Brecon, founded by the religionists of the Reformation, and
Llandovery, the Welsh school founded by a patriot of modern times.
It was principally for the ministry of religion that secondary
schools and colleges were first established. Schools were founded in
many districts, and important colleges at Lampeter (degree-granting),
Carmarthen, Brecon, Bala, Trevecca, Pontypool, Llangollen,
Haverfordwest. Many of these have a long history.
Higher education had been the dream of many centuries. Owen
Glendower had thought of establishing two new universities at the
beginning of the period of the Revival of Letters; among his
supporters were many of the Welsh students who led in the great
faction fights of mediaeval Oxford. Oliver Cromwell and Richard
Baxter had thought of Welsh higher education. But nothing was done.
In the eighteenth century, and in the nineteenth until 1870, the Test
Act shut the doors of the old Universities to most Welshmen; the new
University of London did not teach, it only examined; the Scotch
Universities, to which Welsh students crowded, were very far. In
1872, chiefly through the exertions of Sir Hugh Owen, the University
College of Wales was opened at Aberystwyth, and maintained for ten
years by support from the people. The Government helped, and two new
colleges were added--the University College of South Wales at Cardiff
in 1883, and the University College of North Wales at Bangor in 1884.
In 1893 Queen Victoria gave a charter which formed the three colleges
into the University of Wales. Lord Aberdare, its first Chancellor,
lived to see it in thorough working order. On Lord Aberdare's death,
the Prince of Wales was elected Chancellor in 1896; and when he
ascended the throne in 1901, the present Prince of Wales became
Chancellor.
The tendency of the whole system of Welsh education is towards
greater unity. There is a dual government of the secondary schools
and of the colleges, the one by the Central Board and the other by
the University Court--a historical accident which is now a blemish on
the system. The Training Colleges are still outside the University,
but they are gravitating rapidly towards it. The theological
colleges are necessarily independent, but the University offers their
students a course in arts, so that they can specialise on theology
and its kindred subjects. The ideal system is: an efficient and
patriotic University regulating the whole work of the secondary and
elementary schools, guided by the willingness of the County Councils,
or of an education authority appointed by them, to provide means.
The rise of the educational system is the most striking and the most
interesting chapter in Welsh history. But the facts are so numerous
and the development is so sudden that, in spite of one, it becomes a
mere list of acts and dates.
CHAPTER XXIV--LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The French Revolution was condemned by Britain, and the voices raised
in its favour in Wales were few. The excesses of the Revolution, and
the widespread fear of a Napoleonic invasion, caused a strong
reaction against progress. The years immediately after were years of
great suffering, but the very suffering prepared the way for the
progress of the future, because it made men willing to leave their
own districts and to move into the coal and slate districts, where
wages were high enough to enable them to live.
The first demand was for political enfranchisement. In 1832, in
1867, and in 1884 the franchise was extended, and every interest
found a voice in Parliament. But, with the exception of the sharp
struggle between the tenant and landlord after the Reform Act of
1867, the effects of enfranchisement on Wales have been very few.
Two Acts alone have been passed as purely Welsh Acts--the Sunday
Closing Act, and the Intermediate Education Act. In Parliament, the
voice of Wales is weak even though unanimous; it can be outvoted by
the capital or by four English provincial towns. Until quite
recently its semi-independence--due to geography and past history--
was looked upon as a source of weakness to the Empire rather than of
strength. Its love for the past appeals to the one political party,
its desire for progress to the other, but its distinctive ideals and
its separate language are looked upon, at the very least, as
political misfortunes. Education and justice have suffered from
official want of toleration; the appointment of a County Court judge
who could not speak Welsh, within living memory, has been justified
by Government on the ground that Englishmen resident in Wales object
to being tried by a Welsh judge.
Far more important to Wales than the Reform Acts are the Local
Government Acts which followed them. When the Reform Act of 1884
added the agricultural labourer to the electors of representatives in
Parliament, every interest had a voice. A further extension of the
franchise would not affect the balance of parties, it was thought;
and a British Parliament has no time or desire to think of sentiment
or theoretical perfection. The Parliament found it had too much to
do, the multiplicity of interests made it impossible to pay effective
attention to them. The result has been that half a century of
extension of the franchise has been followed by half a century of
extension of local government. The County Council Act came in 1888,
and the Local Government Act in 1894.
Of all parts of Britain, Wales had least local government, and needed
most. Its justices of the peace were alien in religion, race, and
sympathy; they were either country squires who had lost touch with
the people, or English and Scotch capitalists who, with rare
exceptions, took no trouble to understand the people they governed,
or to learn their language. The vestry meeting had been active
enough during the early part of the eighteenth century; but religious
difficulties made it impossible for a semi-ecclesiastical institution
to represent a parish. The Tudor policy had separated the people
from the greater land-owners; the iron masters and coal-owners had
not yet become part of the people; there was not a single institution
except the Eisteddvod where all classes met.
In no part of the country was local government so warmly welcomed,
and no part of the country was more ready for it. One thing the
peasants had been allowed to do--they could build schools and
colleges, churches and chapels. They had filled the country with
these--their architecture, finance, government, are those of the
peasant. The religious revivals had left organisers and
institutions. Four or five religious bodies had a system of
institutions--parish, district, county, central. All these were
thoroughly democratic in character. When the Local Government Acts
were passed, there was hardly a Welshman of full age and average
ability who had not been a delegate or in authority; and those of
striking ability, if they could afford the time, continually sat in
some little council or other and watched over the interests of some
institution.
It was from among these trained men that the councillors for the new
county, district, and parish senates were elected. The work of the
councils, especially that of the County Council, has been very
difficult; and when the time comes to write their history, the
historian will have to set himself to explain why the first councils
were served by men who had extraordinary tact for government and
great skill in financial matters. In the lower councils the village
Hampden's eloquence is modified by the chilling responsibility for
the rates, but the Parish Councils have already, in many places, made
up for the negligence of generations of sleepy magistrates and
officials.
With a great difference, it is true, Wales under local government is
Wales back again in the times of the princes. The parish is roughly
the maenol, the district is the commote or the cantrev, the shire is
the little kingdom--like Ceredigion or Morgannwg--which fought so
sturdily against any attempt to subject it.
The local councils were fortunate in the time of their appearance.
They came at a period characterised by an intense desire for a better
system of education, and at a time of rapidly growing prosperity. A
heavy rate was possible, and the people were willing to bear it. The
County Councils were able to build over seventy intermediate schools
within a few years; and that at a time when both elementary and
higher education made heavy demands on what was still a comparatively
poor county. The District Councils were able to lower the amount of
outdoor relief considerably, and without causing any real hardship,
for they had knowledge of their districts as well as the philanthropy
that comes naturally to man when he grants other people's money. The
Parish Councils have become the guardians of public paths; they have
begun to provide parish libraries, and the little parish senate
educates its constituency and brings its wisdom to bear upon a number
of practical questions, such as cottage gardens and fairs.
CHAPTER XXV--THE WALES OF TO-DAY
The most striking characteristic of the Wales of to-day is its unity-
-self-conscious and self-reliant. The presence of this unity is felt
by all, though it may be explained in different ways. It cannot be
explained by race; for the population of the west midlands and the
north of England, possibly of the whole of it, have been made up of
the same elements. It cannot be explained by language--nearly one
half of the Welsh people speak no Welsh. Some attribute it to the
inexorable laws of geography and climate, others to the fatalism of
history. Others frivolously put it down to modern football. But no
one who knows Wales is ignorant of it.
The modern unity of the Welsh people--seen occasionally in a function
of the University, or at a national Eisteddvod, or in a conference of
the County Councils--has become a fact in spite of many difficulties.
One difficulty has been the absence of a capital. The office of the
University and the National Museum are at Cardiff, in the extreme
south; the National Library is at Aberystwyth, on the western sea.
The thriving industries, the densely populated districts, and the
frequent and active railways, are in the extreme south or in the
extreme north; and they are separated by five or six shires of
pastures and sheep-runs, without large towns, and with comparatively
few railways. In the three southern counties--Glamorgan, Monmouth,
and Carmarthen--the population is between two and six people to 10
acres, and the industrial population is from twelve to three times
the number of the agricultural. In the central counties--Brecon,
Radnor, Cardigan, Merioneth, Montgomery--the population is below one
for 10 acres; the industrial and agricultural population are about
equal, except in Radnor, where the agricultural is more than two to
one. Though Merioneth has more sheep even than Brecon--and each of
them has nearly 400,000--its industrial population, owing to the
slate districts, is double the agricultural. The population begins
to thicken again as we get nearer the slate, limestone, and coal
districts. In Denbigh it is two to the 10 acres, in Carnarvon it is
three, and in Flint it rises to four or five. In these northern
counties the industrial population is double or treble the
agricultural. The fertile western counties of Pembroke and Anglesey
come between the industrial and grazing counties in density of
population. {4}
Unity has arisen in spite of differences caused by the intensity of a
religious revival, an intensity that periodically renews its
strength. The Welsh are divided into sects, and the bitterness of
sectarian differences occasionally invades politics and education.
But there are two ever-present antidotes. One is the Welsh sense of
humour, the nearest relative or the best friend of toleration. The
other is the hymn--creed has been turned into song, and that is at
least half way to turning it into life; the heresy hunter is disarmed
by the poetry of the hymn, and its music has charms to soothe the
sectarian breast. The co-operation of all in the work of local
government has also enlarged sympathy.
Unity has arisen in spite of the bilingual difficulty. Rather more
than one half of the people now habitually speak English. For three
centuries an Act--a dead letter from the beginning--ordered all
Government officials to speak English; for many generations, until
recently, Welsh children were not taught Welsh in schools, and they
could not be taught English. The bilingual difficulty is now at an
end. The two languages are taught in the schools, and as living
languages. It is clear, on the one hand, that every one should learn
English, the language of the Empire and of commerce. It is also
clear that, on account of its own beauty as well as that of the great
literature it enshrines, Welsh should be taught in every school
throughout Wales.
Next to its unity, a characteristic of modern Wales is its democratic
feeling. It is a country with a thoughtful and intelligent
peasantry, and it is a country without a middle class. There is a
very small upper class--the old Welsh land-owning families who once,
before they turned their backs on Welsh literature, led the country.
They have never been hated or despised, they are simply ignored.
Their tendency now is to come into touch with the people, and they
are always welcomed. But a middle class, in the English sense, does
not exist. The wealthier industrial class is bound by the closest
ties of sympathy to the farmer and labourer. The farmer's holding is
generally small--from 50 to 250 acres--and he always treats his
servants and labourers as equals.
The three great levelling causes--religion, industry, {5} and
education--have been at work in Wales in recent years. Education
helps and is helped by equality. In town and country alike all Welsh
children attend the same schools--elementary and secondary; and they
proceed, those that do proceed, to the same University, and a
university is essentially a levelling institution. The dialects, as
well as the literary language, are recognised; and no dialect has a
stigma. In this respect Wales is more like Scotland than England.
There is one other characteristic of modern Wales--a certain pride,
not so much in what has been done, but in what is going to be done.
Wales is small, though not much smaller than Palestine, or Holland,
or Switzerland, and every part of it knows the other. There is a
healthy rivalry between its towns and between its colleges; each town
can show that it has done something for Wales in the past--by means
of its industries, or school, or press. In the strong feeling of
unity there is ambition to surpass, and each part lives in the light
of the action of the other parts.
The day is a day of incessant activity--industrial, educational,
literary, and political. What is true in the life of the individual
is true in the life of a nation--a day of hard work is a happy day
and a day of hope.
AN OUTLINE OF WELSH POLITICAL HISTORY
INFLUENCES UNDER WHICH THE HISTORY OF WALES WAS FORMED
1. The nature of its rocks--Igneous, Cambrian, Silurian, Old Red
Sandstone, Limestone, Coal--all belonging to the Primary Period. Its
rocks
(a) explain its scenery;
(b) explain its wealth, the richest part of Britain in minerals.
2. The configuration of its surface.
(a) It is isolated, its mountains being surrounded by the sea, or
rising sharply from the plains. It is part of the range of mountains
which runs along the whole of the west coast of Britain; but the
range is broken at the mouth of the Severn and at the mouth of the
Dee.
(b) It is divided, its valleys and roads radiating in all
directions. So we have in its history
A. Wars of Independence.
B. Civil War.
THE PEOPLE WHO CAME INTO WALES
1. The Iberians--a general name for the short dark people who still
form the greater part of the nations. They had stone weapons, and
lived in tribes; they became subject to later invaders, but gradually
became free. Their language is lost.
2. The Celts--a tall fair-haired race, speaking an Aryan tongue. It
was their migration that was stopped by the rise of Rome. Four
groups of mountains, four nations (Celtic and Iberian), four
mediaeval kingdoms, and four modern dioceses can be remembered thus:
i. Snowdonia Decangi Gwynedd Bangor
ii. Berwyn Ordovices Powys St Asaph
iii. Plinlimmon Demetae Dyved St David's
iv. Black Mountains Silures Morgannwg Llandaff
3. The Romans. They made roads, built cities, worked mines.
50-78. The Conquest. The Silures were defeated in 50, the Decangi
in 58, the Ordovices in 78.
80-200. The Settlement. Wales part of a Roman province including
Chester and York.
200-450. The struggle against the new wandering nations. The
introduction of Christianity.
450- The House of Cunedda represents Roman rule.
4. The English.
577. Battle of Deorham. Wales separated from Cornwall.
613. Battle of Chester. Wales separated from Cumbria.
I. THE WALES OF THE PRINCES
Isolated after the battles of Deorham and Chester, mediaeval Wales
begins to make its own history. The House of Cunedda represents
unity, the other princes represent independence. English, Danish,
Norman attacks from without.
1. 613-1063. The struggle between the Welsh princes and the English
provincial kings. From the battle of Chester to the fall of Griffith
ap Llywelyn.
(a) Between Wales and Northumbria, 613-700; for the sovereignty of
the north. Cadwallon, Cadwaladr v. Edwin, Oswald, Oswiu.
(b) Between Wales and Mercia, 700-815; for the valley of the Severn.
Rhodri Molwynog and his sons v. Ethelbald and Offa.
(c) Between Wales and the Danes, 815-1000. Rhodri the Great and
Howel the Good.
(d) Between Wales and Wessex, 1000-1063; for political influence.
Griffith ap Llywelyn v. Harold.
2. 1063-1284. The struggle between the Welsh princes and the
central English kings.
(a) 1066-1137. The Norman Conquest. Norman barons v. Griffith ap
Conan and Griffith ap Rees.
1063. Bleddyn of Powys tries to unite Wales.
1070. William the Conqueror at Chester. Advance of Norman barons
from Chester, Shrewsbury, Hereford, Gloucester.
1075. Death of Bleddyn; succeeded by Trahaiarn.
1077. Battle of Mynydd Carn. Restoration of House of Cunedda--
Griffith ap Conan in the north; Rees, followed by his son Griffith,
in the south.
1094. Norman castles dominate Powys, Gwent, Morgannwg, and Dyved.
Gwynedd and Deheubarth threatened.
1137. Death of Griffith ap Conan and Griffith ap Rees, after setting
bounds to the Norman Conquest.
(b) 1137-1197. The struggle against Henry II. and his sons.
1137. The accession of Owen Gwynedd and of the Lord Rees of the
Deheubarth.
1157. Henry II. interferes in the quarrel of Owen and Cadwaladr.
1564. The Cistercians at Strata Florida.
1164. Meeting of Owen Gwynedd, the Lord Rees, and Owen Cyveiliog at
Corwen, to oppose Henry II.
1170. Death of Owen Gwynedd.
1188. Preaching of the Crusades in Wales.
1189. Death of Henry II.
1197. Death of the Lord Rees.
(c) 1194-1240. The reign of Llywelyn the Great.
1194-1201. Securing the crown of Gwynedd.
1201-1208. Alliance with King John.
1208-1212. War with John.
1212-1218. Alliance with barons of Magna Carta.
1218-1226. Struggle with the Marshalls of Pembroke.
1226-1240. Unity of Wales: alliance with Marshalls.
(d) 1240-1284. The Wars of Independence.
1241. David II. does homage to Henry III.
1244. Death of Griffith, in trying to escape from the Tower of
London.
1245. Fierce fighting on the Conway.
1254. Edward (afterwards Edward I.) Earl of Chester.
1255. Llywelyn ap Griffith supreme in Gwynedd.
1263. Alliance with the English barons.
1267. Treaty of Montgomery; Llywelyn Prince of Wales.
1274. Llywelyn refuses to do homage to Edward I.
1277. Treaty of Rhuddlan; Llywelyn keeps Gwynedd only.
1278. Llywelyn marries Eleanor de Montfort.
1282. Last war. Battle of Moel y Don. Llywelyn's death.
1284. Statute of Wales.
3. 1284-1535. The rule of sheriff and march lord.
1287. Revolt of Ceredigion.
1294. Revolts In Gwynedd, Dyved, Morgannwg.
1315. Revolt of Llywelyn Bren.
1349. The Black Death in Wales.
1400. Rise of Owen Glendower.
1402. Battles of the Vyrnwy and Bryn Glas.
1404. Anti-Welsh legislation.
1455. The Wars of the Roses.
1461. Battle of Mortimer's Cross.
1468. Siege of Harlech.
1469. Battle of Edgecote.
1478. Court of Wales at Ludlow.
1485. Battle of Bosworth and accession of Henry VII.
1535. Act of Union. All Wales governed by king through sheriffs.
II. THE WALES OF THE PEOPLE.
In 1535 the march lordships were formed into shires, and a reign of
law began.
1535-1603. Period of loyalty to Tudor sovereigns--for equality
before law and political rights.
1536. The march lordships become shire ground. Wales given a
representation in Parliament, and its own system of law courts--the
Great Sessions of Wales.
1539. Welsh passive resistance to the Reformation.
1567. Sir Thomas Middleton opens silver mines of Cardiganshire.
1588. Bishop Morgan's Welsh Bible.
1593. Execution of John Penry.
Results 1. Destruction of power of barons.
2. Anglicising of gentry.
3. A Welsh Bible.
1603-1689. Struggle between new and old ideas.
1618. Coal of South Wales attracts attention.
1640. First Civil War.
1644. Brereton and Myddleton win North Wales, Laugharne and Poyer
win South Wales, for Parliament.
1648. Second Civil War: siege of Pembroke.
1650. Puritan "Act for the better Propagation of the Gospel in
Wales."
1670. Vavasour Powell dies in prison.
1689. Abolition of the Court of Wales.
1689-1894. Rise of the Welsh democracy.
1719. Copper works at Swansea.
1730. Griffith Jones' circulating schools.
1750. Iron furnaces at Merthyr Tydvil.
1773. Death of Howel Harris.
1814. Death of Charles of Bala.
1830. Abolition of Great Sessions of Wales.
1832. First Reform Bill.
1839. Chartism at Llanidloes and Newport.
1867. Second Reform Bill.
1872, 1883, 1884. University Colleges.
1884. Third Reform Bill.
1888. County Council Act.
1889. Secondary Education Act.
1894. Local Government Act. University of Wales.
THE HOUSE OF CUNEDDA
TABLE I
CUNEDDA WLEDIG (Dux Britanniae).
MAELGWN GWYNEDD
CADWALADR
|
Idwal
|
Rhodri Molwynog
|
Conan Tindaethwy
|
Esyllt=Mervin
|
RHODRI THE GREAT
|
+-----+--------+---------------+
| | |
Anarawd Cadell Mervin
| HOWEL THE
Idwal the GOOD
Bald |
| |
Iago Owen
| ? +-----------------------------+
Conan {6} Einion |
(See Table | Meredith
II.) Cadell |
| LLYWELYN AB SEISYLLT=Angharad*=Cynvyn
Tewdwr {6} | |
(See Table +-----------+ +-----+-----+
III.) | | |
GRIFFITH BLEDDYN Rhiwallon
(See Table IV.)
TABLE II--GWYNEDD
GRIFFITH AP CONAN
|
+----------------------+----------------+
| | |
OWEN GWYNEDD Cadwaladr Gwenllian=G. ap Rees
|
+--------------------+
| |
Iorwerth DAVID I.
|
LLYWELYN THE GREAT
|
+--------------------+
| |
Griffith DAVID II.
|
+-----------+----------+------------+----------+
| | | |
Eleanor de=LLYWELYN Owen David Rhodri
Montfort | THE LAST the Red |
| Thomas
Gwenllian |
Owen of Wales
TABLE III--DYNEVOR
REES AP TUDOR
|
+-----------------+------------------+
| |
GRIFFITH Nest
|
THE LORD REES
|
+--------------------+
| |
GRIFFITH Rees the Hoarse
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