The history of Wales

1000 BC: THE IRON AGE
It was not until the time of the Romans that written history began in and about Britain. For information on the earliest settlements, we have to look to our archaeologists. From them we learn that by 1000 BC, the Iron Age proper had arrived in what is now Wales where its people grouped themselves into large hill forts for protection; practiced mixed, settled farming, but also worked extensive copper mines. Many of these impressive hill forts remain in Wales, some of them, such as Tre'r Cewri atop Yr Eifl Mountain in Gwynedd, were still occupied during the Roman invasions in the first century AD. Advanced metalworking seems to have been introduced as a result of contact with the Halstatt culture of Austria, from an area near present-day Saltzburg. This culture itself had benefited from contact with others in the Mediterranean area, whose use of the symbols and patterns so characteristic of Celtic design, is named La Tene, after a village on the shores of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland.



500-100 BC: THE CELTS ARRIVE
It was at this time that the Celtic languages arrived in Britain, probably introduced by small groups of migrants who became culturally dominant in their new homelands, and whose culture formed part of a great unified Celtic "empire" encompassing many different peoples all over Northern Europe. The Greeks called these people, with their organized culture and developed social structure Keltoi, the Romans called them Celtai.
In spite of the fact that they were perhaps the most powerful people in much of Europe in 300 BC, with lands stretching from Anatolia in the East to Ireland in the West, the Celts were unable to prevent intertribal warfare. Their total lack of political unity, despite their fierceness in battle, ultimately led to their defeat and subjugation by the much better disciplined armies of Rome. Even the Celtic languages on Continental Europe eventually gave way to those stemming from Latin. But in Britain, at least for a few hundred years after the Roman victories on mainland Europe, the Celts held on to much of their customs and especially to their distinctive language which has survived today as Welsh.

The language of most of Britain was derived from a branch of Celtic known as Brythonic: it later gave rise to Welsh, Cornish and Breton (these differ from the Celtic languages derived from Goidelic, namely Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx). Along with the new languages, new religions entered Britain, particularly that of the Druids, the guardians of traditions and learning. The Druids glorified the pursuits of war, feasting and horsemanship. They controlled the calendar and the planting of crops, and they presided over the religious festivals and rituals that honored local deities. Thus they constituted the first target for the invading Roman legions.



43-383 AD: ROMAN BRITAIN
The first invasion of the British Isles (Britannia) by the Romans took place in 55 BC under Julius Caesar, but it did not lead to any significant occupation. He had some interesting, if biased comments concerning the native inhabitants. "All the Britons," he wrote, "paint themselves with woad, which gives their skin a bluish color and makes them look very dreadful in battle" ("De Bello Gallico"). It was not until a hundred years later, following an expedition ordered by the Emperor Claudius, that a permanent settlement of the grain-rich eastern territories of Britain began in earnest. From their bases in what is now Kent, the Roman armies began a long, arduous and perilous series of battles with the native Celtic tribes, first victorious, next vanquished. But as on the Continent, superior military discipline and leadership, aided by a carefully organized system of forts connected by straight roads, led to the triumph of Roman arms.

It was not long before a great number of large, prosperous villas were established all over Britain, but especially in the Southeast and Southwest. The villas testified to the rapidity by which Britain became Romanized, for they functioned as centers of a settled, peaceful and urban life. They are mostly found in present-day England. Mountainous Wales and Scotland were not as easily settled; they remained "the frontier" -- lands where military garrisons were strategically placed to guard the Northern and Western extremities of the Empire. Smaller forts were constructed to protect the Roman copper, tin, lead and gold mines that most certainly utilized native labor.

In what is now Wales, the Romans were awestruck by their first sight of the druids. The historian Tacitus described them as being "ranged in order, with their hands uplifted, invoking the gods and pouring forth horrible imprecations" ("Annales"). The fierce resistance of the tribes in Wales meant that two out of the three Roman legions in Britain were stationed on the Welsh borders. Two impressive Roman fortifications remain to be seen: Isca Silurium (Caerleon) with its fine ampitheatre, in Monmouthshire and Segontium, (Caernarfon), in Gwynedd.

Though the Celtic tongue survived as the medium of everyday speech, Latin was being used mainly for administrative purposes. Many loan words entered the native vocabulary, and these are still found in modern-day Welsh. Today's visitors to the principality are surprised to find hundreds of place names containing Pont (bridge), while ffenest (window), pysgod (fish), milltir (mile), melys (sweet or honey), cyllell (knife), ceffyl (horse), perygl (danger), eglwys (church), and many others attest to Latin influence. Rome, of course, became Christianized with the conversion of Constantine in 337, and thanks to the missionary work of Martin of Tours in Gaul and the edict of 400 AD that made Christianity the only religion of the Empire, the people of Britain quickly adopted the new religion. The old Celtic gods had to slink off into the mountains and hills to hide, reappearing fitfully and almost apologetically only in the poetry and myths of later ages.



383: THE MACSEN'S LEGIONS WITHDRAWAL
Magnus Maximus, the commander of the Roman armies in Britain took much of the British garrison with him to displace Gratian as Emperor. He appears in Welsh writing as Macsen Wledig in "Breuddwyd Macsen" (The Dream of Macsen), one of the two historical tales in "The Mabinogion". Macsen's brother Cynan and his army may have been the first Britons to settle in Armorica, later known as Brittany, where the Celtic language survives somewhat shakily today. Some historians consider 383 as the year that the concept of the Welsh nation began and see Macsen as the father of the Welsh nation.



400-600: THE SAXON INVASIONS
When the city of Rome fell to the invading Goths under Alaric, Roman Britain, which had experienced centuries of comparative peace and prosperity, was left to its own defenses. One of the local Romano-British leaders may have been a tribal chieftain named Arthur, who put up some kind of organized resistance to the oncoming Saxon hordes. As early as 440, an anonymous writer penned the following:

Britain, abandoned by the Romans, passed into the power of the Saxons (Chronica Gallica).
One prominent British chieftain, Vortigern (Gwrtheyrn) is remembered as being responsible for inviting the first Germanic mercenaries to help defend Britain against the invading Picts. The arrival of Hengist and Horsa and their Jutes mark the beginning of Germanic settlements in Britain (ironically, the first modern Welsh language centre is located in a remote valley named Nant Gwrtheyrn (the stream of Vortigern) in the Llyn Peninsular, Gwynedd).

516: THE BATTLE OF MOUNT BADON
The "Annales Cambriae" (dating from 1100, but which is based on much earlier sources), states that the Battle of Mount Badon took place in 516 and that the Britons were victorious under Arthur, "who bore the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ on his shoulders for three days and three nights." The battle may have been the decisive one that made the existence of Wales possible by halting further westward expansion by the Saxons.



540:"DE EXCIDIO BRITANNIAE"
This work, "Concerning the Fall of Britain", written by the cleric Gildas, gives us a garbled history in which he blames the coming of the Saxons as punishment for the many sins of the native Britons.



550-650: SAXON INFLUENCE
Apart from the heroic defense of Arthur (reputed to have been killed at the Battle of Camlan in 539), Romano-Britain quickly crumbled under the onslaught of Germanic tribes, themselves under attack from the east and wishing to settle in the sparsely populated, but agriculturally rich lands across the narrow channel that separated Britain from the Continent. Their invasions met fierce and prolonged resistance, but more than three hundred years of fighting between the native Celts and the ever-increasing numbers of Germanic peoples eventually resulted in Britain sorting itself out into three distinct areas: the Britonic West, the Teutonic East and the Gaelic North.
These areas later came to be identified as Wales, England and Scotland, all with their very separate cultural and linguistic characteristics. (Ireland, of course, remained Gaelic: many of its peoples migrated to Scotland, taking their language with them to replace the native Pictish. Some Irish also settled in Western Wales but were eventually absorbed into the local population).



600: THE WELSH LANGUAGE BEGINS ITS WRITTEN HISTORY
According to the distinguished historian John Davies, it was around the year 600 that the Welsh language began to be written down as the older Brythonic tongue gradually gave way to Welsh. Poets such as Aneirin and Taliesin showed that the "new" language could produce great literature and thus was much more than a local patois.



425-664: THE AGE OF THE CELTIC SAINTS
Though much of Britain was settled by the pagan Saxons, the Celtic Church (mainly monastic) survived in the West. This was the age of Saints Dyfrig, Illtud, Teilo, Padarn and David (Dew, the patron saint of Wales). Much missionary work took the Welsh churchmen to Ireland (one of these was Patrick himself). It is from this time that the Welsh word Llan appears, signifying a church settlement. The Celtic Church survived the coming of Augustine to Canterbury. It continued many traditions of the early Church that had been superseded at Rome. Even as late as 731, the English historian Bede commented that the Welsh (the Britons) upheld "their own bad customs" against the true Easter of the Catholic Church.

Many of the early British church settlements are dedicated to David, about whom very little is known except that he lived in the 6th Century and died around 589. Information about his life comes from "The Life of St David" written in the late 11th century by Rhygyfarch of Llanbadarn (Church of Padarn) but supplemented by Geraldus Cambrensis around 1200. It was then that the church named for the saint at Ty Dewi (St David's) became a place of pilgrimage. David was not adopted as the patron saint of Wales until the 18th century, when his birth date, March 1st was chosen as a national holiday.



615: THE BATTLE OF CHESTER AND THE SPLIT IN THE BRYTHONIC KINGDOMS
The English peoples gradually gained control over much of Southern Britain. The period saw the defeat of the Welsh at Dyrham in 577 that cut them off from their fellow Britons in the Southwest and the Battle of Chester in 615, that severed contact with the Britons of the North. The Welsh of the Western peninsular were now on their own but could develop as a separate cultural and linguistic unit from the rest of Britain.



633. WALES BECOMES A SEPARATE CULTURAL & LINGUISTIC UNIT
This is signified by the use of the word Cymru in a poem dated 633. The term comes from Cymbrogos, the Celtic word for Compatriot. The Britons, in their never-ceasing battle against the Pagan invaders, referred to themselves as "Cymry" a term still used today. The word Welsh is a later word used by the Saxons to denote those people of Britain (the native population) they considered as "foreign" or who had been "Romanized." Today's Welsh call the English "Sais" (Saxons).



664: THE DEATH OF CADWALADR
The death of Cadwaladr marked the end of any hopes of the Britons regaining their ancient kingdoms on the mainland. Cadwaladr was the son of Cadwallon of Gwynedd, whose intention, according to historian Bede, had been to exterminate the English race. The death of Cadwaladr's father in Rome is the starting point of the "Brut y Tywysogyon", the chronicle of the Welsh princes. The author of the "Brut" stated "And from that time onwards the Britons lost the crown of the kingdom and the Saxons won it." It was apparent that it was all over for Cadwaladr as "King of the Britons" before he even started his reign. The people of Wales would have to wait for the Tudors to re-establish any claim to the throne of Britain. It is significant, therefore, at Bosworth Field in 1485, the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr was carried by Henry Tudor in his defeat of Richard III.



c. 720: LINKS BETWEEN WALES AND BRITANY ARE SEVERED
Contact between the Welsh Church and Yvi of Britanny was the last known link between the two Celtic countries. After that, each "nation" went its own way.



768: CELTIC CHURCH REUNITES WITH ROME
Following centuries of isolation, first following the lead of the Irish Bishops, then those of the rest of Britain, the Celtic Church in Wales (which had been mainly monastic), decided to conform to the Rules of Rome and the authority of the Church that had been set up by Augustine and his successors at Canterbury and agreed upon at Whitby in 664.

784: THE KING OF MERCIA BUILDS OFFA'S DYKE
This may have been the single most important event in the survival of the Welsh nation. Whatever its initial intention, the dyke became a permanent boundary between the Welsh and the English people. Thus the notion of Wales as a separate geographical area from the rest of Britain came to be established, though many Welsh people continued to reside east of the 240 kilometer-long bank and ditch. Even today, at towns such as Owestry, there is a large Welsh presence on the "English" side of the Dyke. English settlements have taken place on the western side since the castle-building programs of Edward I, beginning with Flint in 1284.



800: NENNIUS AND THE "HISTORIA BRITTONUM"
Born around 800, Nennius was responsible for the work "Historia Brittonum," which purports to give the history of Britain from the time of Julius Caesar to the end of the seventh century. Nennius is important for the study of early Arthurian materials; he describes Arthur as a "leader of battles, who defeated the Saxons twelve times, the final battle being Mount Badon."



844-877: THE REIGN OF RHODRI MAWR (RHODRI THE GREAT)
In 844 Rhodri ap Merfyn became king only of Gwynedd, but by the time of his death in 877, he had united all of Wales under his rule. His reign certainly did much to heighten the Welsh consciousness of being one people. In 856, Rhodri killed the Viking leader the "black pagan" Horme, restricting Danish occupation of Wales to a few scattered ports and trading posts (Norse names survive at Llandudno (the Great Orme), Swansea (Sweyn's Ey) and some small islands in the Bristol Channel.



c. 890: WELSH RULERS ACKNOWLEDGE THE OVERLORDSHIP OF ALFRED OF WESSEX
After Alfred's successes against the Danes, the Welsh kings asked him for his patronage, and their recognition that the king of England had claims upon them became "a central fact in the subsequent political history of Wales" (Davies, p. 85). As Alfred's court became a center of learning, his patronage could only have been beneficial to the people of Wales, though a sense of subservience to the English Crown was established.
The "Cyfraith Hywe" (Law of Hywell) was written, not in Latin, but in Welsh. It excelled in granting a high status to women, curtailing death by execution, abolishing the primitive English practices of proving guilt, pardoning theft if the sole intention was to stay alive; and safeguarding the rights of illegitimate children. The far-reaching, far-sighted laws were drawn up in Whitland, in Dyfed. It was Welsh law (and literature) that a French scholar called the product of "the most civilized and intellectual people of the age."



937: THE BATTLE OF BRUNANBURGH
Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great of England, called "ruler of the whole orb of Britain," imposed heavy taxes upon the Celtic peoples of Britain. A rebellion against his rule was led by the Scots and the Northmen that culminated in their heavy defeat at Brunanburgh. The Welsh did not take part, even though the poem "Armes Prydein", written a few years before the momentous battle, had predicted their victory over the English King. Had the battle gone the other way, the people of Wales would have surely regained their independence.



960: THE "ANNALES OF CAMBRIAE"
Around 960 a collection of documents, pedigrees and annals that deal with the early history of the Welsh kingdoms over the past 500 years was drawn up. Other stories bound up with these "chronicles" and which include mention of Vortigern and Arthur, were later called "Historia Brittonum" and ascribed to Nennius.



1039-1063: THE REIGN OF GRUFFUDD AP LLEWELYN
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn deserves praise as the only Welsh ruler to unite the ancient kingdoms of the whole of Wales under his authority. He started off a brilliant reign by utterly defeating an army of Mercians to secure the borders of his nation, recovering many areas in present-day Flintshire and Maelor that would remain part of Wales. His alliances with English rulers brought peace to Wales for a quarter of a century.

According to Gwynfor Evans, that Wales did not suffer the fate of Strathclyde, where the Welsh language disappeared under the weight of the Anglo-Saxons incursions, was entirely due to the inspiration that Gruffudd ap Llywelyn brought to the people of Wales, inspiring them with his vigor and vision. Finding his country weak and divided, he left it strong and united.



1066-77: THE NORMANS COME TO WALES
Following the defeat of the English King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, it wasn't too long before the victorious William of Normandy set about establishing the Marcher Lordships on the borders of Wales, a country with which he did not seem particularly anxious to get involved. He had enough on his plate without getting involved west of Offa's Dyke; in any case it was in Norman interests to develop close ties with the Welsh rulers in order to secure their own frontiers.

The semi-independent Marcher Lords were responsible for many of the magnificent castles that today dominate the Welsh landscape. Beginning with Chepstow, erected by the Earl of Hereford, the castles commanded territories that became known as "Englishries." In them, English settlers practiced a way of life and law totally unknown to the inhabitants of the "Welshries" the less fertile, upland and mountain areas. The divisions are apparent even today, as one travels from Clwyd to Gwynedd, or from Glamorgan into Carmarthen, or better yet, from southern Pembroke into Northern Pembroke across the linguistic dividing line known as "landsker." The results of the 1997 Referendum also show the results of the original Norman divisions.

On the positive side, it is to the Norman-Welsh writers, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gerald of Wales that the glories of Welsh literature became known to the world.



1090: "THE LIFE OF ST. DAVID"
"The Life of St David" is the first of the lives of the Welsh saints. It was written by Rhygyfarch of Llanbadarn (near Aberystwyth) around 1190.



1120-1129: "HISTORIA REGUM BRITANNIAE"
Geoffrey of Monmouth's major work became the basis for a whole new and impressive European literature of Arthurian romance. Giving his source for his history as Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, Geoffrey gives us the tradition of Arthur as a wise, noble and benevolent king presiding over a chivalric court in a kind of Golden Age of the British Isles, the tradition that is still one of the dominant themes of world literature today. It was Geoffrey's writings that provided the people of Wales with a claim to the sovereignty of the whole island of Britain, a claim of which the Tudors were later anxious to take advantage. To Geoffrey also we owe the story of "The Dream of Macsen Wledig", interpreted today by such visionaries as folk singer and nationalist Dafydd Iwan.

1137-1170: THE REIGN OF OWAIN GWYNEDD
Under Owain Gwynedd and Madog ap Maredudd, the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys were gradually freed from Norman influence and became re-established as major political units under Welsh rulers, enjoying Welsh law, and where the Welsh language flourished. Owain defeated an army led by Henry II at Coleshill on the Dee Estuary in 1157. Though eventually Owain was forced to recognize Henry's control over lands to the east of the River Clwyd (Tegeingl, part of the old Earldom of Chester), he refused to acknowledge the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Wales, holding the consecration service for the new Bishop of Bangor, not in that northern Welsh city, but across the Celtic sea in Ireland. After inflicting another humiliating defeat on the English forces in the steep-sided Ceiriog Valley and now in full control of the whole of native Wales, Owain took as his title "the Prince of Wales" (Princeps Wallensium).



1169: PRINCE MADOG REACHES AMERICA
According to a popular Welsh legend (see my Facts about Wales), Prince Madog of Gwynedd, accompanied by a group of followers, made landfall on what is now Mobile Bay, Alabama some time in 1169. The explorers then traveled up the Missouri, where a remnant inter-married with the Mandans and left behind some of their customs and their language.



1146-1243: GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS
Gerald of Wales was born at Manorbier, in Pembrokeshire around 1146 into a Norman-Welsh family. His prolific writings include "Itinerarium Kambriae" and "Description Kambriae", both of which contain the only sources for much early Welsh history and folk tales.



1176: THE EISTEDDFOD AT ABERTEIFI, CARDIGAN
The "Brut y Tywysigyon" records the following anonymous entry for the year 1176:
"At Christmas in that year the Lord Rhys ap Gruffudd held court in splendour at Cardigan (Aberteifi) . . . And he set two kinds of contests there: one between bards and poets, another between harpists and crowders and pipers and various classes of music-craft. And he had two chairs set for the victors."
The above entry is the first known mention of the Eisteddfod, the much beloved festival that has become so much a part of Welsh culture and tradition. The word itself (one of the very, very few words of Welsh origin that are found in an English dictionary), can be translated as "a chairing" and chairs are still awarded for the winners of poetry contests. Modern eisteddfodau [pl.] include the National Eisteddfod of Wales, held in a different venue in Wales each year during the first week in August; and the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, held on the banks of the River Dee in Clwyd each July. Other well-attended Esteddfodau take place at various times in towns and villages all over Wales as well as at such far-flung places of Welsh influence as Edwardsville, Pennsylvania; Queensland, Australia; and Trelew, Patagonia.



Late 12th Century: THE COURT POETS
The general growth of European court culture in the late 12th century also found its counterpart in Wales where a new flourishing of the court poets accompanied military successes against the Anglo-Normans. The main poetic form was the "awdl", the short monor-hymed piece involving use of one or more intricate meters. Dominant poets were Cyndelw Brydydd Mawr (Cyndelw the Great Poet); Llywarch ap Llywelyn; Gwalchmai; Hywel ap Owain Gwynedd; and Gruffudd ap yr Ynad Coch, whose elegy on the death of Prince Llywelyn must be one of the most moving and powerful laments ever written in the Welsh language.



1200: EDWARD I'S WELSH CASTLES
Following his wars against the Welsh under Llywelyn and the Treaty of Aberconwy, Edward began his major castle-building campaign, starting with Flint, Rhuddlan, Aberystwyth and Builth. After the death of Llywelyn in late 1282., Edward's second phase of castle-building began, including the mighty strongholds of Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech, Cricieth, and Beaumaris.



1200-1240: WALES UNIFIES UNDER LLYWELYN AP IORWERTH
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (son of Iorwerth) was the grandson of Owain Gwynedd. Under his dynamic leadership and military prowess, his lands were again united as a single political unit for one of the few times in their long, checkered history. In 1204, the Prince married Joan, the daughter of King John of England. In the "Brut", it is stated that Llywelyn "enlarged his boundaries by his wars, gave justice to all according to their deserts, and by the bonds of fear or love bound all men duly to him." He was further recognized as pre-eminent in Wales by the new king Henry III.
Llywelyn's long reign of 46 years brought an era of relative peace and economic prosperity to Wales. Welshmen were appointed to the Bishoprics of St. David's and Bangor. The bards referred to LLywelyn as the Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Eryri, but to posterity, as Gwynfor Evans proudly points out, he became known as Llywelyn Fawr (Llewelyn the Great).



1222-1283: LLYWELYN AP GRUFFUDD
After he death of Llywelyn the Great, quarrelling between his two sons Dafydd and Gruffudd undid most of what their father had accomplished. In 1254, Henry II of England gave the young Prince Edward control of all the Crown lands in Wales.

The situation was restored under the brilliant leadership of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd whose success led to the acceptance of his claim to be called "Prince of Wales" by King Henry at the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. This was the high water mark of Welsh political independence: the people of Wales had their own prince, governed their own lands under their own laws and were able to conduct their own affairs in their own language. Their country was poised to take its place among the developing independent nation states of Europe.

Then it all unraveled. Edward I took the throne in 1272 determined to crush all resistance to his rule in Wales. Not only did Llywelyn have to face the forces of the king of England but he was also faced with resistance among the minor Welsh princes as well as the powerful Marcher Lords.



1277: THE TREATY OF ABERCONWY
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was forced to give up most of his lands, being confined to Gwynedd, west of the River Conwy. Harsh measures undertaken against his people by King Edward, who began building English castles garrisoned by English mercenaries and settlers, led to a massive revolt led by Llywelyn.



1282: CILMERI
At first, things went well for the Welsh prince, but a chance encounter with an English knight near Cilmeri, near Builth in Powys, ended the Welsh dreams. Llywelyn was killed, effective resistance ended, and for all practical purposes, Wales was henceforth forced to live under an alien political system, playing only a subordinate role in the affairs of Britain.

1284: THE STATUTE OF RHUDDLAN
The Statute of Rhuddlan (The Statute of Wales), confirmed Edward's ruthless plans for the subjugation of Wales "once and for all." New counties were created, and English law was firmly set in place. In 1300, Edward made his son Lord Edward "Prince of Wales and Count of Chester," at Caernarfon Castle, one of his magnificent strongholds built around the perimeter of Wales, and ever since that time these titles have been automatically conferred upon the first-born son of the English monarch. The Welsh people had no say in the matter.
The Preamble to the infamous statute shows fully its intent to bring Wales to order. It reads:

Edward, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine, to all his subjects of his land of Snowdon, greeting in the Lord. The Divine Providence, which is unerring in its own government, among the gifts of its dispensation, wherewith it hath vouchsafed to distinguish us and our realm of England, hath now of its favour, wholly and entirely transferred under our proper dominion, the land of Wales, with its inhabitants, heretofore subject unto us, in feudal right, all obstacles whatsoever ceasing; and hath annexed and united the same unto the crown of the aforesaid realm, as a member of the same body. We therefore . . . being desirous that our aforesaid land of Snowdon and our other lands in those parts . . . should be governed with due order . . . and that the people or inhabitants of those lands who have submitted themselves absolutely unto our will . . . have cause to be rehearsed before us and the nobles or our realm, the law and customs of those parts hitherto in use; which being diligently heard and fully understood, we have . . . abolished certain of them, some thereof we have allowed, and some we have corrected; and we have likewise commanded certain others to be ordained and added thereto . . ."
Thus it was that many of the ancient Welsh laws, codified by Hywel Dda were now superseded by English ones. Welsh law had equally divided property among male children, the system of "gavel-kind." The English law honored "primogeniture" by which property went to the first-born male. The Statute of 1284 allowed the Welsh system to continue (perhaps an English measure to prevent the building up of large Welsh-owned landed estates?). Changes from Welsh law included the rule that bastard sons were not to share in the inheritance, and that the inheritance was to pass to females upon failure of male heirs. Females could also have the right to a dowry in Wales for the first time.



Mid-14th Century: LITERARY REVIVAL

1. "The Mabinogion"
In "The White Book of Rhydderch" and "The Red Book of Hergest," composed sometime in mid-14th century, are preserved the anonymous texts we now call "The Mabinogion", Wales's greatest contribution to European literature. Though not translated into English until mid-19th century by Lady Charlotte Guest, these masterpieces of dialogue and emotional story telling may date back to the 11th century, using material from a much earlier period involving figures from Celtic mythology.
2. The Poets of the Gentry
The decline of the Welsh aristocracy and the growth of the native Welsh gentry brought about a new class of mid-14th century poets. A new form of poetry developed, the Cywydd, a much more flexible form than the awdl. To this was added the ornamentation known as cynghanedd (harmony) that still plays a major part in the production of Welsh poetry.

3. Dafydd ap Gwilym
At the time of Chaucer in England, and just following that of Dante in Italy, Wales produced its own world-class master of the art of poetry, Dafydd ap Gwilym. Utilizing his knowledge of many Anglo-Norman themes and literary practices, and much influenced by the poems of Ovid (which had just been made available in Britain), Dafydd entertained his wealthy patrons with stories of love, beautiful if unattainable women and the wonders of nature. It is a task well worth while to master the Welsh language if only to grasp the beauty and delicacy of Dafydd's language and his imaginative use of metaphor. Dafydd's contemporaries were Llywelyn Goch, whose "Death of Lleucu Llwyd" is one of the finest of all Welsh love poems; and Iolo Goch, whose finest work is perhaps "Y Llafurwr" (The Labourer).



1294-1400: THE WELSH REBELLION AND OWAIN GLYNDWR
It wasn't long after the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd that other Welsh leaders raised the flag of rebellion. Prominent among these were Madog ap Llywelyn (who called himself Prince of Wales); Llywelyn Bren, Lord of Senghenydd; and Owain Lawgoch (Owen of the Red Hand). Before the latter was betrayed and killed, he had raised the hopes of the Welsh people of fulfilling the old prophesies of restoring his people's rule over Britain, a tradition that was also seen as part of the destiny of the greatest of all the Welsh rebel leaders, Owain Glyndwr.

Glyndwr's rebellion began in 1400 and for the first four years everything seemed to be going his way. Even the comet of 1402 was seen as a herald of Welsh successes against the English, whose armies Owain "almost destroyed by magic."



1399: RICHARD II SURRENDERS TO BOLINGBROKE AT FLINT CASTLE



1402: PENAL LAWS PASSED AGAINST WALES
Due to the astonishing success of Glyndwr's rebellion, and the frustration of the English authorities in their failures to apprehend the Welsh leader, Parliament passed the infamous Penal Laws. These laws prohibited the Welsh from gathering together, gaining access to office, carrying arms and living in the fortified towns (Englishmen who had the temerity to marry Welsh women were also denied the same privileges).



1404: GLYNDWR'S PARLIAMENT AT MACHYNLLETH
At Machynlleth, where he had summoned a Parliament, Owain had himself declared "Prince of Wales." Tradition has it that he was crowned by his followers in a ceremony attended by envoys from France, Scotland and Castile, all of which promised to help the Welsh independence movement.



1409: THE CHARTER OF BRECON
The tide of victory turned against the Welsh armies when young Prince Henry (later Henry V) retook most of the lands captured by Glyndwr. King Henry IV enacted "the usual" punitive measures against the Welsh, who were forced to pay large subsidies, were prohibited from acquiring land east of Offas's Dyke or even within "English" boroughs in Wales. The harsh conditions are exemplified in the Charter of Brecon, which stated "The liberties of Brecon shall be restricted to those whom we deem to be Englishmen and to such of their heirs as are English on both their mother's and their father's side."

Mid-15th Century: THE RADICAL POETS
The mid-15th century, following the failure of the rebellion of Owain Glyndwr, was a sad period for Wales. In such times, there was an inevitable return to prophetic poetry in which the tradition called for an overthrow of the hated Saxon overlords. Grievances of the people were given expression by poets Guto'r Glyn and Lewis Glyn Cothi who both longed for the expulsion of English office holders from Wales. An even more radical poet who used his considerable talents to pour scorn upon the English was Sion Cent, who also wrote powerful poetic sermons on the mortality and vanity of all earthly things, and whose work had a lasting and profound influence upon the themes of later Welsh poets.



1485: THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH
The final battle of The Wars of the Roses was fought in August, 1485 at Market Bosworth in the English Midlands. Henry Tudor, the only surviving Lancastrian claimant to the English throne, was of Welsh descent. Owain Tudor of Penmynedd in Anglesey, had secretly married Catherine, widow of Henry V. Of their five children, one was Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond who fathered Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII of England. As a result of the battle at Bosworth, and the defeat of Richard III, Henry Tudor ascended to the English throne, thus in a way fulfilling the old prophesies that one day a Welsh monarch would rule the whole of Britain.



1521: WILLIAM OWEN'S BOOK
Lawyer and author William Owen from Henllys, Pembrokeshire, published his "Bregement de Toutes les Estats", the very first book by a Welshman to be printed in Britain. The first book to be published in the Welsh language (that was not a translation) had to wait until 1585.



1536: THE ACT OF UNION
Henry VIII, as greedy as ever to acquire lands and property, disposed of the Duke of Buckingham in 1521, and added his Welsh lordships Brecon and Newport to lands owned by the Crown. He then granted the lands of Rhys ap Gruffudd to Walter Devereux, steward of the household of Henry's daughter Mary. When a bitter quarrel ensued between Devereux and Rhys, the King accused the Welsh lord of plotting with the King of Scotland to make himself ruler of Wales. In 1536, King and Parliament showed their determination to settle the matter once and for all.
The so-called Act of Union of that year, and its corrected version of 1543 was inevitable. As many historians have pointed out, full union with England had been practically achieved by the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan. The new Act stated "persons born or to be born in the said Principality . . . of Wales shall have and enjoy and inherit all and singular Freedoms, Liberties, Rights, Privileges and Laws . . . as other Kings' subjects have, enjoy or inherit."

The Act of Union is one of the most important documents in the whole history of Wales; but though it was welcomed by the ever-increasingly anglicized Welsh gentry and the commercial interests (who would become totally divorced from the language and customs of their country), it was passed with no consultation or consent of the majority of the Welsh people who had no central authority or Parliament to represent them.

The Preamble gives notice that one intention of the Act was "to extirpate all and singular the sinister usages and customs differing from the same [the Kings' realm]" and to ensure that" the said country or dominion of Wales shall stand and continue for ever from henceforth incorporated, united and annexed to and with his Realm of England."



1547: WILLIAM SALESBURY'S WELSH-ENGLISH DICTIONARY
Salesbury worked tirelessly to give the Welsh people the ability to read the scriptures in their own language. Until such scriptures were available, they would have to do with versions in English (a language that most Welsh people could not understand).



1551: "KYNNIVER LLYTH A BAN" OF SALESBURY
This was Salesbury's translation of the main texts of the English Prayer Book. The author had previously set out his mission to the Welsh nation as "to obtain the holy scripture in your own tongue as your happy ancestors, the ancient British, had it."



1563: BILL PASSED TO HAVE HOLY BIBLE TRANSLATED INTO WELSH
Though John Penry of Breconshire, had pleaded passionately in Parliament to have the Bible translated so that the Welsh people might better learn English, the Queen and her advisors were more interested in completing the Protestant Reformation throughout Britain than in granting any favors. One of the quickest and surest ways to accomplish this was to give the Welsh people a Bible in their own tongue.



1567: SALESBURY'S NEW TESTAMENT AND COMMON PRAYER BOOK IN WELSH (Y Testament Newydd a Llyfr Gweddi yn Gymraeg)
This book was a forerunner of Salesbury's intention to translate the whole Bible into Welsh, but his quarrel with Bishop Richard Davies (that may have been over a single word) ended the project. The completed New Testament never became popular, however, because of its archaic, difficult language.



1567: THE CAERWYS EISTEDDFOD
The two eisteddfodau at Caerwys, a little town in Flintshire, in 1525 and 1567 marked changes in the craft of Welsh poetry. Though the bards were called together to "bring order and government to the craftsmen in poetic art," the meetings were probably royal attempts to curb the anti-royalist sentiments of the nationalistic poets. The 1567 eisteddfod also marked the end of the Bardic Order as the humanist influences now sweeping in from Europe necessitated changes in Welsh prosody including the replacement of the old bardic system of twenty-four strict metres by that of free metres. The poetic art was thus made more accessible to the ever-increasing amateur poets of the gentry.



1571: JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD FOUNDED
Jesus College was Oxford's first Protestant foundation. Following the establishment of many grammar schools in Wales, Jesus College was founded by Dr. Hugh Price of Brecon to cater to the needs of Welshmen anxious to continue their education, especially in law. It has remained a particular venue for the education of ambitious Welshmen throughout the centuries. Its list of graduates reads like an Honour Roll of "Who's Who in Welsh history."

1573: THE FIRST MAP OF WALES
Humphrey Lhuyd's Map, the first that was specifically a map of Wales, was published in Antwerp in 1573. Its immense popularity is attested to by its being reprinted almost 50 times during the next 200 years.



1584: "HISTORIE OF CAMBRIA", NOW CALLED WALES
This book, published by David Powel, closely followed the arguments of antiquarian and map-maker Humphrey Lluyd's adaptation of the ancient "Brut y Twysogion". It was one of many books to answer the claims of the Italian Polydor Vergil who had the temerity to cast doubts on the authenticity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's stories of King Arthur. Powel's book remained the standard version of the history of Wales for centuries.



1585: THE FIRST BOOK PUBLISHED IN WELSH
This collection of religious texts, entitled "Yn Llyvyr Hwnn" (In This Book) published by Sir John Price (John Prys of Brecon), was the very first book published in the Welsh language. The very first book actually printed in Wales itself may have been "Y Drych Gristianogawl" (The Christian Mirror produced in a cave at Llandudno, North Wales).



1586: WILLIAM CAMDEN'S BRITANNIA
Camden's book, in Latin (in form and content following the precedent set by Giraldus Cambrensis in the late 12th century), detailed the tribal divisions of Roman Wales. A classic of its kind, the book set the standard of travel books about historical Wales.



1588: THE WELSH BIBLE OF BISHOP MORGAN
In order for the people of Wales to have a book they could read, in a dignified and elegant language yet that could be understood in all parts of Wales, the task was entrusted to William Morgan, vicar of Llanrhaeadr-Ym-Mochnant, and later Bishop of Llandaf and St. Asaph. Aided by a group of scholars, Morgan completed the task in 1588, giving the people of Wales a Bible that became the foundation and inspiration for all the literature written in Welsh after the end of the 16th century.
In 1620, the minor corrections to and standardization of Morgan's great work carried out by Dr. John Davies of Malltwyd helped ensure the continuity of the literary language of Wales. Not only that, but with the publication of a smaller, cheaper version in 1630, generation after generation of Welsh children would learn to read and write from "The Book," thus keeping alive the language against the almost impossible odds constantly ranged against it.

Welsh was the only non-state language of Protestant Europe to become the medium of a published Bible within a century of the Reformation. The Irish did not get their own Bible until 1690; the Scots had to wait until 1801 for its Gaelic Bible, long after the Highland Clearances and massive emigration had almost emptied the country of its Gaelic speakers.



1603: JAMES I BECOMES RULER OF THE KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN
The year 1603 marked the union of the crowns of Scotland and England under James I. Many historians see this union as perfectly acceptable to the Welsh, who had no outstanding leaders of their own, and who now perhaps could take pride in being part of the British kingdom as opposed to being merely part of England. There followed a new exodus of Welsh gentry to London to take part in the bestowal of royal favors.



1621: DR. DAVIES' BRITISH GRAMMAR
In addition to helping William Morgan with his translations, Dr. Davies also helped revise the Book of Common Prayer in 1621, the same year in which his Welsh grammar in Latin appeared. Of these two influential works, James Howell wrote "It was a rough task . . . to tame a wild and wealthy language, and to frame grammatic toils to curb her, so that she now speaks by rules, and sings by prosody."



1621: CYNWAL'S "SALMAU CAN"
Poet William Cynwal is best remembered for his metrical Psalms published as an appendix to the "Welsh Book of Common Prayer" of 1632. This book was practically the only hymnal used in Wales for over 100 years; many of the psalms included are still used in churches in Wales for congregational singing.



1622-1709: HUW MORYS AND THE NEW VERSE-FORM
"Huw Morys Eos Ceiriog" (the Nightingale of Ceiriog), wrote during the time of the English Civil Wars. Dealing mostly with social issues, Morris created a verse-form based on the traditional accented metre, and blending words to music, founded a new school of Welsh poetry.



1632: DR. DAVIES' APPEAL TO HAVE THE PRINCE OF WALES LEARN WELSH
In his "Dictionarium Duplex" of 1632, the indefatigable Dr. Davies wrote the following to Henry, the Prince of Wales, thus anticipating the preparation undergone by Charles Windsor for his 1969 Investiture: "Your Highness should be imbued from the cradle, at the same as with other languages, with the ancient language of this island, which is now restricted to your own Welsh people. . . for knowing languages is no indignity for princes." In a typical repudiation of the Welsh people, the prince's guardians ignored Dr. Davies' advice.



1650: ACT FOR THE BETTER PROPAGATION AND PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL
The Act followed the defeat of King Charles. In Wales it was intended to root out dissident clergymen, but it also led to the opening up of 63 new schools in which children were taught to read and write (albeit in English). The Act also created a new class of literate ministers and enthusiastic preachers whose influence in Wales was a lasting one, doing much to prepare the ground for cultivation by the Methodists a century later.



1662: ACT OF UNIFORMITY
When Parliament became alarmed at the growth of Nonconformism, it decided to bring congregations into line by passing the Act of Uniformity requiring all ministers to assent to the rites and liturgy of the Established Church (in Wales still regarded as an alien institution). One unintended effect of the Act, along with those created by the restrictive Clarendon Code (1661-5), was that whole congregations moved to the New World, leading to such settlements as that of the Welsh Quakers that later became the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

1664: THE CONVENTICLE ACT
The Conventicle Act prohibited groups of more than five persons from assembling for religious worship other than that prescribed by the Established Church. It had the effect of furthering emigration to North America, where Welshmen became prominent in municipal government and the universities (both of which had been excluded by the Conventicle Act even after the passing of the so-called Toleration Act of 1689).



1667: CHARLES EDWARDS' "Y FFYDD DDI-FFUANT" (The Sincere Faith)
Edwards promulgated the belief that the people of Wales were the chosen of God, having replaced the Israelites or having been descended directly from "the lost tribes" themselves. His book deals with the history of the Welsh people, the history of the Christian religion and the spiritual condition of individual Welshmen.



1674: THE WELSH TRUST IS SET UP IN LONDON
With the arrival of the Methodist preachers in Wales, the need was brought home for printed works to educate the common people. In 1674 Thomas Gouge set up the Welsh Trust to establish English schools in Wales, but also to publish books in Welsh.



1681: "CANWYLL Y CYMRU" OF RHY PRITCHARD
Much 17th century Welsh literature was designed to preach the Gospel. Preacher-poet Rhys Pritchard published his "Canwyll y Cymry" (The Candle of the Welsh) in 1681. The book contained simple, moral verses that later became the source of many Welsh hymns; it also had the enormous effect on keeping the language alive as one of the only books available for children.



1681: WILLIAM PENN GIVEN PROPRIETARY RIGHTS TO PENNSYLVANIA
In a letter to his friend Robert Turner, one day after being granted his lands in North America, Penn gave his reasons for not calling the area New Wales. He chose Pennsylvania instead, with the translation as "Head Woods." (The Welsh word Pen translates as "head." or "chief see my "Facts about Wales").



1688: STEPHEN HUGHES PUBLISHED "TAITH Y PERERIN"
This book, a version of Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" was one of the many Welsh works to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the proliferation of the printing press. For Welsh Protestants, the book has remained one of the most popular works ever printed.



1699: THE SPCK FOUNDED
The Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge was founded by Sir John Phillips of Pembrokeshire (along with Mrs. Bridget Bevan and Stephen Hughes). The SPCK helped found a network of charity schools in Wales that condoned the use of the Welsh language, and helped publish a number of influential books including Ellis Wynn's "Gweledigaetheu y Bardd Cwsc" (The Vision of the Sleeping Bard) in 1703, a satire of the ills of the age and a book now considered a classic of Welsh High Anglicanism.



1707: EDWARD LHUYD'S "ARCHAEOLGIA BRITANNIA"
Edward Lhuyd, of Llandorda, Oswestry, was regarded as the finest natural scientist in Europe. Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, his notes for a new edition of Camden's 1586 "Britannia" are an outstanding contribution to the history of topographical and archaeological studies in Britain. In 1707, Lhuyd published his own book in which he desired to put objective truth above the current fad for romantic antiquarianism.



1716: THEOPHILUS EVANS "DRYCH Y PRIF OESOEDD" (Mirror the First Age)
Evans was alarmed at the rise of nonconformity that he felt was destroying many ancient Welsh traditions. His book recounts the history of the Welsh people all the way from the Tower of Babel to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's death in 1282. He retells some of the great myths of Welsh history such as the descent from Noah's grandson Gomer, the founding of Britain by Brutus of Troy, and the betrayal of the Britons by Hengist. Written in their own language, the book gave the Welsh people a sense of their own unique history.



1717: "TREASURES OF THE ANCIENT AGES" (Lewis Morris)
Continuing the appeal to the classical past, Lewis Morris, anxious to counter the appeal of English books to Welsh readers, also produced books in Welsh that were designed to entertain. His "Tlysau yr Hen Oesoedd" was the first Welsh periodical, containing much-needed light-hearted verse and prose.



1718: PRINTING PRESS SET UP AT TRFHEDYN, CARDIGANSHIRE
Over 500 books were printed in the Welsh language at Trefhedyn and at another press set up in 1721 at Carmarthen. Most of these were translation of religious works in English, but the production of so many cheap catechisms and prayer books had the unintended effect of helping ensure the survival of the Welsh language.



1723: "MONA ANTIQUA RESTAURATA" PUBLISHED IN LONDON
One of the results of this book of Henry Rowlands, in which he surveys the antiquities of his native Anglesey, was to set in motion a "druid fad" that became highly popular in London and that resulted, eventually, not only in misconceptions about role of the druids in Welsh history, but also in the colorful (and very popular) shenanigans of the present day ceremonies of the Gorsedd.



1729: WESLH SOCIET ESTABLISHED IN PHILADELPHIA
In addition to religious persecution, land enclosures in Wales sent whole villages fleeing to the New World, especially to an area near Philadelphia, where Welsh books had been published as early as 1721 and where the St. David's Society was established in 1729, the oldest of its kind in North America.

1735: HYWEL HARRIS CONVERTS TO METHODISM
Because of his tireless work on behalf of his new-found faith and his zeal in converting others, Harris has been given the title of "father of Methodism in Wales." He worked closely with other religious enthusiasts such as Daniel Rowland, William Williams, Peter Williams and the English evangelist John Wesley.



1740: GRIFFITH JONES' "WELCH PIETY"
In publishing his "Welsh Piety", Griffith Jones stressed the need for the people of Wales to be able to read the Scriptures for themselves. Married to the sister of John Philips (one of the founders of SPCK), Jones helped set up schools in almost every parish in Wales. Evening classes were also set up for laborers and farm workers. These "circulating schools" became one of the great success stories in the long history of the country, acquainting much of the population with the literary language of the Bible and making Wales one of the most literate countries in Europe. Professor John Davies points out that Empress Catherine of Russia commissioned reports on the schools in Wales in 1764 as did UNESCO in 1955.



1751: THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF THE CYMMRODORION FOUNDED
There is a Welsh expression that translates as "the best Welshman is one who lives outside Wales." In the middle of the 18th century, most of the advocates of Welsh nationhood lived in London where the Cymmrodorion was founded by Richard Morris after the travels of such writers as Daniel Defoe and Samuel Johnson had toured Wales and stirred up interest in all things Celtic. Morris saw the need for an organization that could give the Welsh people a strong voice in the social and cultural affairs of the British nation The appetites of the London Welsh were also whetted after the unfortunate forgeries of James Macpherson's "Songs of Ossian" with what results we shall see later.



1760: JOHN GUEST ARRIVES AT DOWLAIS
An industrial enterprise begun in 1748 at Dowlais, near Merthyr, came under the directorship of John Guest (husband of Lady Llanover) in 1761 and within a few years was producing over 5,000 tons of iron a year. It was the beginning of Merthyr's phenomenal growth as one of the leading iron manufacturing centers of the world. Another industrialist, Anthony Bacon, built a road from Merthyr to Cardiff in 1867. When Bacon's works at Cyfartha came into the possession of Richard Crawshay in 1794, a dynasty was established that lasted well into this century.



1761: JOHN WILKINSON COMES TO BERSHAM
Bersham, a small village near Wrexham in Clwyd, holds special importance for economic historians, for not only did it house the workshops of the skilled Davies Brothers, it was one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution. This is the place where British iron making began in 1670, where smelting iron ore with coke began in 1721, and where John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson set up shop in 1761. For many years the area was one of the most important iron manufacturing centers in the world. The Bersham Industrial Center tells the story of the man who bored cannon for the American War of Independence and cylinders for James Watts' revolutionary steam engine that changed the face of the modern world.



1762: "CANIADAU Y RHAI SYDD AR Y MOR O WYDR" PUBLISHED
William Williams' collection of hymns, translated as "Songs of Those that are on the Sea of Glass", is a collection of 130 hymns that constitute the great classical body of Welsh hymnody by one of its greatest writers. William Williams' "Pantycelyn" was converted by Hwyel Harris and through his hymnologies helped give the fledgling Methodist Movement a firm literary base. Perhaps his most well-known hymn is "Guide me, O thou Great Jehovah" (usually sung in Wales to the tune "Cwm Rhondda". Williams inspired many of his contemporaries, including Dafydd Jones, who translated many of the hymns of Isaac Watts, David Williams of "Ebenezer" fame, Peter Jones and David Charles (brother of Thomas) who wrote the stirring hymn "Llef".



1763: GORONWY OWEN'S WORK PUBLISHED
The drunken escapades and profligacy of the lifestyle of Goronwy Owen, who emigrated to take up a teaching post at William and Mary College in Virginia in 1757 read like the history of an early Dylan Thomas. Yet, like his 12th century counterpart, the earlier poet left behind some outstanding works of literature.
Before emigrating, Owen had taken upon himself the task of reviving Welsh poetry by writing his awdlau and cywyddau in the manner of the classical poets, notably Horace. He also planned a Welsh epic in the style of Milton, the composition of which occupied many 19th century Welsh poets greatly influenced by the form and content of Owen's work. Much of Owen's poetry was published in the anthology "Diddanwch Teuluaidd" in 1763 and again in 1817. A plaque installed by the NWAF at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg commemorates the memory of this brilliant, if eccentric literary figure who spend the last years of his life as tobacco planter and a vicar in St. Andrew's Parish, Virginia.



1764: "SOME SPECIMENS OF THE POETRY OF THE ANCIENT WELSH BARDS"
Evan Evans published this result of his tireless research into the ancient manuscripts. He was also responsible for the preservation of so many priceless medieval Welsh literary works such as "The Red Book of Hergest" that alerted the literary world to the glories of much hitherto-unknown Welsh literature. It was Evans (Ieuan Brydydd Hir) who discovered and published the work of Taliesin and "Y Gododdin" of Aneirin.



1768: COPPER ORE MINED AT MYNYDD PARYS, ANGLESSEY
The copper industry, begun at Holywell in Flintshire around 1750, could now use Welsh ore mined at Parys Mountain. Huge copper works were built first at Holywell in the North and then at Swansea in the South (by Thomas Williams), leading to an industry that controlled half the world's production by the end of the century. In the hinterland of Swansea, the Tawe Valley's hell-like appearance marked its position as the leading copper producer in Britain if not the entire world.



1770: THE PETER WILLIAMS BIBLE
The very first edition of the Welsh Bible to be printed in Wales was that of Peter Williams at Carmarthen in 1770 by John Ross. Popular throughout the 19th century, and reprinted many times, it had pride of place in most Welsh homes where it became a standard possession (for his translation of the Bible, Williams was excommunicated for heresy in 1791).



1770: THE GWYNEDDIGION IN LONDON FOUNDED
The Gwyneddigion was founded by two prominent Welshmen in London, Edward Jones and Edward Williams (Iolo Morgannwg) with aims similar to that of the Cymmrodorion. It is to stone-mason Williams that we owe the elaborate ceremonies of the modern eisteddfod, for he invented many "traditions" he felt belonged to such an ancient Celtic race such as the Welsh, and who had either lost them or who had not enjoyed them in the first place.

1776: RICHARD PRICE PUBLISHES "THE NATURE OF CIVIL LIBERTY"
Price, a prolific author of books on divinity and theology, is best known for his "Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty" in which he fervently supported the right of the American colonies to independence. For his work, Price was honoured in both England and America, where he was offered citizenship. On October 6, 1778, The American Congress resolved: "That the Honourable Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee and John Adams . . . to apply to Dr. Price, and inform him that it is the Desire of Congress to consider him as a Citizen of the United States, and to receive his Assistance in regulating their Finances."
Price's ideas were indeed revolutionary: he urged that governments create a surplus of revenue over expenditure, allow it to build at compound interest and retire the public debt. He also had the startling idea that British MP's were simply trustees to carry out the wishes of their constituents and that communities such as Wales had the right to govern themselves.



1778: THOMAS PENNANT'S TOURS IN WALES
This was the first of Pennant's tours (the second was published in 1781) that helped spread the word about the intellectual and literary treasures to be found in the practically unknown country to the west of Offa's Dyke. Professor Davies sees this as the beginning of a Celtomania affecting English literary society at the close of the century. From 1770 to 1815, over 80 books were published describing tours in Wales, where the superb mountain scenery was now to be admired, not scorned as barbaric and untamed. Landscape artists such as Richard Wilson added their talents to the pool of praise; even the great Turner painted romantic Welsh mountain scenes.



1782: DAVID WILLIAMS PUBLISHES "LETTERS ON POLITICAL LIBERTY"
The essays of David Williams, in which he advocated radical political reform, like those of Richard Price, put him way ahead of his time. Many of his ideas were later adopted by the Chartists whose activities so frightened those in the establishment in the mid-1800's.



1784: HENRY CORT'S IRON PUDDLING ADOPTED AT MERTHYR TYDFIL
The method of puddling iron, invented in Hampshire by Henry Cort in 1783, ensured that, no longer reliant on charcoal, the iron industry could find a perfect home in the Southeastern valleys of Wales with their vast supplies of bituminous or semi-bituminous coal. Merthyr quickly became the home of industrial giants such as John Guest, Richard Crawshay, and the Homfrays. By 1827, the South Wales iron industry was producing one half of Britain's exports. The peaceful, verdant valleys of the South began their rapid transformation.



1784: THOMAS CHARLES CONVERTS
Charles is credited with setting up the successful Sunday School movement in North Wales that had such a profound and lasting influence on the language and culture of that region; an influence that is still a constant source of wonder to monoglot English-speaking Welshmen and women from other parts of Wales, not to mention visitors from other parts of the British Isles. Under Charles' leadership, the British and Foreign Bible Society published the standardized text of their first Welsh Bible, and the SPCK its edition of the New Testament. Another major achievement was the "Thomas Charles Bible" published in 1814.



1788: THE FIRST WELSH PEOPLE ARRIVE DOWN UNDER
The first Welsh people to arrive in the new colony of Australia were guests of the "First Fleet." They were convicts: two men and two women. Before that, the medical officer on Captain Cook's ship the Discovery, was Dafydd Ddu Feddyg (Black David the Doctor). In the 1830's more convicts arrived, including Lewis Lewis, sentenced following the Merthyr Riots and John Frost, following the Newport Rising. Perhaps the most famous of all the Welsh immigrants to arrive "Down Under" was Joseph Jenkins, who left Wales because of a nagging wife and whose exploits as "the jolly swagman" of the popular song has earned him a prominent place in the pantheon of Australian folk heroes.



1790: RICHARD PENNANT'S ROAD TO THE COAST
The growth of the North Wales slate industry was ensured by the building of a road from the inland quarries to the coast at Port Penrhyn, near Bangor by capitalist Richard Pennant. Such ports also helped in the growth of the Welsh maritime industry, an important part of the country's economy, especially in the export of the products of the burgeoning Welsh woolen industry.



1790-1800: THE GREAT ERA OF CANAL BUILDING IN WALES
To link the iron works of the Merthyr district to the port of Cardiff, a series of canals was constructed in the 1790's. By 1800, the towns of Swansea, Neath, Cardiff and Newport had all been linked to the coalfields by these canals. In North Wales, the completion of Telford's 1007 ft-long Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a stupendous feat of contemporary engineering, carried the Shropshire Union Canal across the River Dee at a height of over 120 feet in a leak-proof, cast-iron trough supported by 19 piers.



1792: THE REVIVAL OF THE ANCIENT EISTEDDFOD
An article in "The Gentleman's Magazine" of October, 1792 noted the following: "This being the day on which the autumnal equinox occurred, some Welsh bards, resident in London, assembled in congress on Primrose Hill, according to ancient usage. Present at the meeting was Edward Jones who had published his "The Musical and Poetical Reelicks of the Welsh Bards" in 1784 in a belated effort to try to preserve the native Welsh traditions being so ruthlessly stamped out by the new breed of Methodists.

It was also in 1792 that Sir William Jones (whose study of Sanskrit led him to discover the link between Welsh and other Indo-European languages), announced the discovery of America by Prince Madoc 300 years before the voyages of Columbus.

1793: REVOLT AT SWANSEA
Not all was peaceful in Wales despite the country being favorably compared in "The Cambrian" to Scotland and Ireland with their history of "riot and commotion." Some time in 1793, several hundred copperworkers and colliers marched on Swansea protesting the high price of grain, cheese and butter and demanding higher wages. They got nowhere in their demands, but it was a foretaste of later industrial disputes.



1793-94: PUBLICATION OF THE FIRST WELSH PERIODICAL
Supported by members of the Gwyneddigion, Morgan John Rhys of Llanbradach, Glamorgan, published five issues of "Cylchgrawn Cymmraeg" (Welsh Magazine) expressing the rather radical ideas of the need for education, social reform and freedom of conscience. Rhys later emigrated to found the Welsh settlement of Beulah in Pennsylvania.



1793-1818: ENCLOSURES OF LAND
Though the process of enclosing land had been going on for centuries, the process was vastly speeded up during the years following 1793 when Parliament passes almost a 100 acts authorizing the enclosure of 80,000 hectares of land in Wales (a hectare is 2.471 acres). More and more of these lands came into the possession of those who already owned wealthy estates. Many Welsh people were forced to emigrate overseas or move to such rapidly-growing industrial districts around Merthyr or into its adjoining valleys.



1794: THE GLAMORGAN CANAL LINKS MERTHYR TO CARDIFF
Cardiff was already the main centre for exporting Welsh coal to the Britain's overseas empire. The success of the 1794 canal in getting the coal and iron products to the waiting ships easily and quickly was soon followed up by other canals linking the ports of Newport and Swansea to their industrial hinterlands of Ebbw Vale (in 1796) and the Swansea Valley (in 1798). The importation of Irish "navvies" to dig these canals did much to hasten the decline of the Welsh language in these areas as well as help spread the seeds of the later Chartist Movement.



1797: THE LAST INVASION OF MAINLAND BRITAIN
In the main square of the town of Fishguard (Abergwaun) is situated the Royal Oak Inn where you can view a copy of the treaty that ended the invasion by a body of French troops led by Irish-American General Tate. The troops had landed from three frigates at Carreg Wastad but were apparently frightened into surrendering by the militia of Lord Cawdor aided by a troop of local Welshwomen who looked like Grenadier Guards in their red cloaks and tall black hats. One local townswoman, the fearsome Jemima Nicholas (or Niclas) with her trusty pitchfork, was personally credited with capturing 14 French soldiers (that they were probably drunk hardly excuses their cowardice).



1804: "THE CAMBRIAN" WALES' FIRST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
In February 1804, "The Cambrian and General Weekly Advertiser for the Principality of Wales" was founded at Swansea by T. Jenkins to encourage commercial growth in the town. In 1891 it was sold to the Cambrian Newspaper Company and in 1930 merged with "The Herald of Wales".



1804: TREVITHICK AT PENYDARREN
Richard Trevithick, a Cornishman, tested his steam locomotive at Penydarren, on the horse-drawn tramroad (a plateway completed in 1802) that bypassed the many locks on the Glamorganshire Canal linking Merthyr to Cardiff. The earliest steam locomotive in the world, it was a four-wheeled tramway locomotive that hauled a five wagon load of 10 tons of iron [some sources state 20 tons] and 70 persons at a speed of five miles an hour, for a distance of nine miles. Though the track proved too brittle and not developed enough for effective use, a new, exciting phase in the history of transportation was about to begin.
In early 1804, Trevithick had carried passengers on Christmas Eve, at a speed of 9 miles an hour at Cambrone in England in a steam carriage, but had run out of steam going up hill. A locomotive was needed to run on iron rails. Mr. Samuel Humfray, owner of the Merthyr Iron Works suggested that Trevithick build a steam locomotive for the nine-mile track to Navigation House, Aercynon.

An article of Friday, February 24, 1804 in "The Cambrian" referred to "the long-expected trial of Mr. Trevithick's newly-invented steam engine, which he named Catch -me-Who-Can, to draw and work carriages of all descriptions on various kinds of roads. "The successful test had taken place on February 21; it drew forth the prescient comment: "It is not doubted but that the number of horses in the kingdom will be very considerably reduced, and the machine, in the hands of the present proprietors, will be made use of in a thousand instances never yet thought of for an engine."



1804: "THE CAMPBELL'S POLITICAL SURVEY OF WALES" PUBLISHED
The publication of such surveys showed that Wales was more and more being recognised as a distinct political unit within the British Isles despite the hundreds of years since the Acts of Union. Campbell's survey stated that Swansea was named by the Saxons as Swinesea, "from porpoises or sea-hogs in these parts." (Most sources give the derivation of the name as Viking Sweyn's-Ey (Sweyn's Island).



1804: THE SWANSEA AND OYSTERMOUTH RAILWAY BEGINS
On the 29th of June, 1804 an Act was passed "For making and maintaining a Railway of Tramroad, from the town of Swansea, into the Parish of Oystermouth, in the County of Glamorgan." The railway (utilizing horse-drawn locomotion) was built for the passage of wagons and other carriages to communicate with the Swansea Canal and to open a communication with "several extensive limestone quarries, coal mines, iron mines and other mines. A notice in "The Cambrian" on August 31, 1804 stated "The new rail-road from this town to Oystermouth is already begun, and the jetty at the pierhead is in a state of great forwardness."

An innovation began in 1807 when passengers were carried along the tramroad in horse-drawn coaches; thus the railway established its place in history as the very first fare-paying passenger rail in the world. Horses were replaced by steam locomotion in 1877. The line was electrified in 1929, finally closing on June 5, 1960 after 153 years of continuous service.

1804: MARTIN'S IRON-MAKING PROCESS PATENTED
In July, 1804, Mr. Edward Martin of Morriston, near Swansea, obtained a patent for making pig and cast iron with raw stone coal (anthracite). "The Cambrian" reported the success of Martin's invention and stated that there would be great benefits to South Wales, "to bring into use great quantities of stone coal, at present of comparatively little value." The report was premature, for it was not until 1837 when David Thomas used the hot blast to smelt iron ore with anthracite that the Swansea Valley began to utilize its industrial potential (the greatest benefits accrued, not to Wales, but to Pennsylvania, with its huge anthracite coal fields).



1804: EDWARD WILLIAMS (IOLO MORGANNWG) HONORED
A notice in "The Cambrian" on November 9, 1804 stated the following: "We hear that the exalted title of Bard was unanimously bestowed on Iolo Morgannwg (Mr. Edward Williams, of Flemington, Glamorganshire), by a Congress of Cambrian Minstrels lately assembled in North Wales, an honour, rarely, if ever bestowed by them on a native of one of the Southern counties." Williams had helped found the Gwyneddigion in London in 1770 and had been active in both promoting ancient Welsh traditions and inventing new ones.



1804: WELSH DICTIONARIES PUBLISHED
This year saw the publication of an English-Welsh Dictionary by W. Richards and a Welsh-English Dictionary and Grammar Book published by William Owen.



1806: HYMNS OF ANN GRIFFITHS PUBLISHED
Only one Welsh hymn writer was able to match the intensity and power of William Williams, and this was Ann Griffiths, who recited her compositions to her maid Ruth Evans on their long walks from Dolwar Fach to Bala to attend religious services. Ann died in 1805, and a year later her hymns (from Ruth's memory) were published as "Casgliad o Hymnau" (Collection of Hymns). Ann Griffiths is regarded as the most important female figure in the history of Welsh literature before the 20th century.



1811: CALVINISTIC METHODIST DENOMINATION ESTABLISHED
From this time on, the majority of Welsh congregations worshipped outside the Established Church. Wales thus became a nonconformist nation. The Methodists used the Welsh language to convert and to continue preaching their faith.



1814: "SEREN Y GOMER" FOUNDED
"Seren y Gomer" (Star of Gomer) was named after its founder, Joseph Harris (Gomer). Published at Swansea, it was the first Welsh-language weekly. Unfortunately it lasted for only one year though it was revived as a biweekly in 1818 and a monthly in 1820.



1815: THE FIRST OF TELFORD'S BRIDGES BUILT IN WALES
Thomas Telford, the great English engineer, built his first bridge in Wales over the River Conwy at Betws-y-Coed. This is the single-arch Iron Bridge known as the Waterloo Bridge constructed in the same year as the battle. The bridge was part of Telford's scheme to link Shrewsbury to Holyhead by a road now known as the A5.



1815: PEACE IN EUROPE, DEPRESSION IN WALES
The advent of peace was a calamity for the Welsh iron industry which had been heavily dependent upon supplying munitions for the long wars against Napoleon. The Tory Government suppressed all dissent, but all the ingredients for mass rebellion were being put into place. In agriculture, conditions were no better, with falling prices and high rents causing many to leave the land without any promise of employment in the coal fields and iron works. The slate industry, however, prospered with the coming of peace. Welsh slate was in great demand to roof many of England and Europe's finest buildings.



1817: RIOTING AT AMLWCH
In Anglesey, the richest seams of the Mynydd Parys mines were already exhausted by 1802. The resulting scarcity of copper ore led to a severe decline in the industrial areas of North Wales, not only at Amlwch itself where the population fell rapidly, but also at towns such as Holywell that depended on Anglesey ores. Depression also hit the lead and iron industry, with the famous Bersham works of John Wilkinson closing in 1826.



1819: THE GORSEDD FIRST APPEARS IN WALES
At an eisteddfod in Carmarthen in 1819 the Gorsedd was first introduced. This assembly of Welsh literary figures, dreamed up in London in 1792 by the indefatigable Iolo Morgannwg, created a way to bring the ancient eisteddfod to the more populated areas of the South (away from its traditional meeting in Clwyd). It has played an important role in Welsh cultural affairs ever since. It was Iolo who came up with the stirring and emotional three-time cry of the archdruid: A Oes Heddwch? (Is there peace?).



1826: TWO MORE TELFORD BRIDGES CONSTRUCTED
Telford continued his success at building an iron bridge across the Conwy by building another one (a picturesque suspension bridge now closed to vehicular traffic) over the same river at Conwy Castle, and a much larger bridge over the Menai Straits the same year. The Menai Suspension Bridge, near Bangor, is a magnificent achievement rising 100 feet above the high water mark of the straits below, and distancing 579 feet between piers. It replaced the dangerous, expensive and highly unreliable ferry from the mainland to the island of Anglesey and the road to Holyhead (and thus the route to Ireland).



1831: THE MERTHYR RISING
As early as 1801 three Merthyr men had been sentenced to death for rioting. At Neath in the 1820's attempts to form a union had been harshly suppressed. A leader of the so-called Scotch Cattle was hanged by the authorities. Then came the armed insurrection known as the Merthyr Rising in which the red flag of rebellion was raised for the first time in Britain. Incensed by the lowering of wages by William Crawshay, and by the Debtor's Court's confiscation of property, a large crowd was faced with a troop of Highlanders outside the Castle Inn at Merthyr.
In the mass confusion, large numbers of workers lost their lives as well as a number of soldiers. For his part in the rebellion, Richard Lewis (Dic Penderyn) was hanged on 31 July, 1831. Forty years later, Ieuan Parker of Cwmafan, a Welshman living in the United States, confessed to the charges that had condemned Lewis. The Welsh riot was hardly mentioned in English newspapers, yet the so-called Peterloo Massacre, at Manchester in 1819, in which considerably fewer people lost their lives, had been reported as "the most outrageous and wicked proceeding ever heard of."

1804: MARTIN'S IRON-MAKING PROCESS PATENTED
In July, 1804, Mr. Edward Martin of Morriston, near Swansea, obtained a patent for making pig and cast iron with raw stone coal (anthracite). "The Cambrian" reported the success of Martin's invention and stated that there would be great benefits to South Wales, "to bring into use great quantities of stone coal, at present of comparatively little value." The report was premature, for it was not until 1837 when David Thomas used the hot blast to smelt iron ore with anthracite that the Swansea Valley began to utilize its industrial potential (the greatest benefits accrued, not to Wales, but to Pennsylvania, with its huge anthracite coal fields).



1804: EDWARD WILLIAMS (IOLO MORGANNWG) HONORED
A notice in "The Cambrian" on November 9, 1804 stated the following: "We hear that the exalted title of Bard was unanimously bestowed on Iolo Morgannwg (Mr. Edward Williams, of Flemington, Glamorganshire), by a Congress of Cambrian Minstrels lately assembled in North Wales, an honour, rarely, if ever bestowed by them on a native of one of the Southern counties." Williams had helped found the Gwyneddigion in London in 1770 and had been active in both promoting ancient Welsh traditions and inventing new ones.



1804: WELSH DICTIONARIES PUBLISHED
This year saw the publication of an English-Welsh Dictionary by W. Richards and a Welsh-English Dictionary and Grammar Book published by William Owen.



1806: HYMNS OF ANN GRIFFITHS PUBLISHED
Only one Welsh hymn writer was able to match the intensity and power of William Williams, and this was Ann Griffiths, who recited her compositions to her maid Ruth Evans on their long walks from Dolwar Fach to Bala to attend religious services. Ann died in 1805, and a year later her hymns (from Ruth's memory) were published as "Casgliad o Hymnau" (Collection of Hymns). Ann Griffiths is regarded as the most important female figure in the history of Welsh literature before the 20th century.



1811: CALVINISTIC METHODIST DENOMINATION ESTABLISHED
From this time on, the majority of Welsh congregations worshipped outside the Established Church. Wales thus became a nonconformist nation. The Methodists used the Welsh language to convert and to continue preaching their faith.



1814: "SEREN Y GOMER" FOUNDED
"Seren y Gomer" (Star of Gomer) was named after its founder, Joseph Harris (Gomer). Published at Swansea, it was the first Welsh-language weekly. Unfortunately it lasted for only one year though it was revived as a biweekly in 1818 and a monthly in 1820.



1815: THE FIRST OF TELFORD'S BRIDGES BUILT IN WALES
Thomas Telford, the great English engineer, built his first bridge in Wales over the River Conwy at Betws-y-Coed. This is the single-arch Iron Bridge known as the Waterloo Bridge constructed in the same year as the battle. The bridge was part of Telford's scheme to link Shrewsbury to Holyhead by a road now known as the A5.



1815: PEACE IN EUROPE, DEPRESSION IN WALES
The advent of peace was a calamity for the Welsh iron industry which had been heavily dependent upon supplying munitions for the long wars against Napoleon. The Tory Government suppressed all dissent, but all the ingredients for mass rebellion were being put into place. In agriculture, conditions were no better, with falling prices and high rents causing many to leave the land without any promise of employment in the coal fields and iron works. The slate industry, however, prospered with the coming of peace. Welsh slate was in great demand to roof many of England and Europe's finest buildings.



1817: RIOTING AT AMLWCH
In Anglesey, the richest seams of the Mynydd Parys mines were already exhausted by 1802. The resulting scarcity of copper ore led to a severe decline in the industrial areas of North Wales, not only at Amlwch itself where the population fell rapidly, but also at towns such as Holywell that depended on Anglesey ores. Depression also hit the lead and iron industry, with the famous Bersham works of John Wilkinson closing in 1826.



1819: THE GORSEDD FIRST APPEARS IN WALES
At an eisteddfod in Carmarthen in 1819 the Gorsedd was first introduced. This assembly of Welsh literary figures, dreamed up in London in 1792 by the indefatigable Iolo Morgannwg, created a way to bring the ancient eisteddfod to the more populated areas of the South (away from its traditional meeting in Clwyd). It has played an important role in Welsh cultural affairs ever since. It was Iolo who came up with the stirring and emotional three-time cry of the archdruid: A Oes Heddwch? (Is there peace?).



1826: TWO MORE TELFORD BRIDGES CONSTRUCTED
Telford continued his success at building an iron bridge across the Conwy by building another one (a picturesque suspension bridge now closed to vehicular traffic) over the same river at Conwy Castle, and a much larger bridge over the Menai Straits the same year. The Menai Suspension Bridge, near Bangor, is a magnificent achievement rising 100 feet above the high water mark of the straits below, and distancing 579 feet between piers. It replaced the dangerous, expensive and highly unreliable ferry from the mainland to the island of Anglesey and the road to Holyhead (and thus the route to Ireland).



1831: THE MERTHYR RISING
As early as 1801 three Merthyr men had been sentenced to death for rioting. At Neath in the 1820's attempts to form a union had been harshly suppressed. A leader of the so-called Scotch Cattle was hanged by the authorities. Then came the armed insurrection known as the Merthyr Rising in which the red flag of rebellion was raised for the first time in Britain. Incensed by the lowering of wages by William Crawshay, and by the Debtor's Court's confiscation of property, a large crowd was faced with a troop of Highlanders outside the Castle Inn at Merthyr.
In the mass confusion, large numbers of workers lost their lives as well as a number of soldiers. For his part in the rebellion, Richard Lewis (Dic Penderyn) was hanged on 31 July, 1831. Forty years later, Ieuan Parker of Cwmafan, a Welshman living in the United States, confessed to the charges that had condemned Lewis. The Welsh riot was hardly mentioned in English newspapers, yet the so-called Peterloo Massacre, at Manchester in 1819, in which considerably fewer people lost their lives, had been reported as "the most outrageous and wicked proceeding ever heard of."

1834: GRAND NATIONAL CONSOLIDATED TRADE UNION
Robert Owen's visions of improving factory conditions, shortening the long, back-breaking hours of labor and educating factory children had led him to set up "villages of co-operation," first in New Lanark, Scotland and then in New Harmony, Indiana. But his most enduring legacy was the creation of the GNCTU in 1834. The Union, despite its current anonymity, became a major influence on the future development of trade unionism in both Britain (and its Commonwealth) and in the United States.



1837: DAVID THOMAS USES ANTHRACITE COAL TO SMELT IRON
At the Yniscedwyn Works, Ystradgynlais, in the Swansea Valley, on February 5, 1837 David Thomas of Neath utilized a hot blast to smelt iron ore with anthracite coal. His success not only opened up the Swansea Valley to industry, but also led to the Lehigh Valley's becoming the chief centre of the world's iron industry shortly after Thomas's arrival at atasauqua, Pennsylvania in 1839 where he tapped his first furnace on July 4, 1840. Thomas is rightly honoured as "the father of the American anthracite iron industry" (An account of his work is given in my book "David Thomas: Iron Man from Wales" published by Red Dragon Press, 21l Murray Rd, Newark, DE 19711).



1838-1849: "THE MABINOGION" PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH
Lady Charlotte Guest (Lady Llanover), intrigued by the Welsh language spoken by the workers at her husband's iron works at Dowlais, was responsible for publishing an English translation of the 12 folk tales that she called "The Mabinogion." She was aided by John Jones ("Tegid") and Thomas Price ("Carnhuanawc"). Thus this great body of late medieval Welsh literature was brought to the attention of the literary world.



1839: BUTE DOCK BUILT AT CARDIFF
Vast amounts of coal were now being produced in the Southeast Wales Valleys; it was an ideal fuel for the world's navies, now changing over from sail to steam. The huge new Bute dock at Cardiff led to that city's rapid expansion into the largest and most important in Wales.



1839: THE REBECCA RIOTS
In May 1839 toll gates at Efailwen, near Carmarthen, were destroyed by a large crowd of farmers led by Thomas Rees (Twm Carnabwth) dressed in the clothes of a local woman named Rebecca. The riots, to protest the high fees charged at the toll gates for the transportation of farm goods, lime and animals continued for a number of years in West Wales.



1839: CHARTIST RIOT AT LLANIDLOES
Llandidloes, Montgomeryshire, was a leading center of the Welsh woolen industry. The popular movement known as the Chartism wanted to bring about electoral reform. One of their meetings, held at Llandidloes, turned violent when the members ransacked some public buildings and threatened the local magistrate. After the local militia had restored order, many of the leaders of the protest were deported for life.



1839: THE NEWPORT RISING
Newport, Monmouthshire, on the southern edge of the South Wales coal field, was the site chosen for a major Chartist rally. Over 5,000 miners and laborers entered Westgate Square in three columns, one led by John Frost. The military was waiting inside the Westgate Hotel, their weapons primed and ready. The marchers were soaked from the heavy downpour, tired from their long hike "from the hills," and armed only with "rude pieces of iron fixed upon shapeless hedge stakes." It is not known who fired the first shot, but a volley from the soldiers of "the gallant 29th" soon ended the demonstration (for surely, that is all that was intended), a score of workers being killed instantly and many more wounded. The 20-minute affair had repercussions lasting more than a century in the political and social history of South Wales (a full account is found in my book "David Thomas: Man of Iron").
Harsh sentences followed the arrest of the Chartist leaders. Frost was found guilty of high treason along with William Jones and Rees (Jack the Fifer). All three were sentenced to hanging and quartering, their bodies to be thrown on the town's rubbish dump, but the sentence was later commuted to one of life imprisonment.

The Great Reform Bill of 1867 finally ended the Chartist Movement, for in that year nearly 1,000,000 voters were added to the register, almost doubling the electorate. Forty-five new seats were created and the vote given to many working men. Frost (having returned to Wales to a hero's welcome after serving time in Australia) died in 1877 at the age of 93: his pioneering work, alongside that of the others, had not been in vain.



1841: RAILWAY LINKS CARDIFF TO BRISTOL
This year saw the completion of the Severn Tunnel enabling Brunel's Great Western Railway to reach Cardiff, thus furthering the conditions for that city's phenomenal growth and importance (but also further severing its links with North and West Wales in favor of those with Bristol and London).



1842-47: ROYAL COMMISSION REPORTS ON THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN WALES
The Royal Commission of 1842 found that in many parts of Wales, young people were learning to read English at Sunday School but could speak only Welsh. The ensuing report of the Commissioners of Inquiry in 1844 lamented the ignorance of the English language. This "intolerable" situation had to be remedied. The next detailed report was issued by the Royal Commission of 1847. It has become known in Wales as "Brad y Llyfrau Gleision" (The Treachery of the Blue Books). The commissioners knew no Welsh, and thus their questions in English to Welsh schoolchildren were not understood.

The prevalence of the Welsh language was stated as the main cause of what the Commission deplored as the sad state of education in Wales. The remedy, the imposition of English-only Board schools throughout Wales did much to hasten the decline of the Welsh language, for generation after generation of children would now be schooled in English only. The survival of Welsh at all can only be attributed to a miracle or to the rugged determination of those for whom the passing along of the ancient language became a sacred trust.



1848: TRINITY COLLEGE, CARMARTHEN FOUNDED
A flurry of activity in the educational field led to the establishment of Trinity College by the Anglican Church. In addition, dissatisfaction led to the foundation of Normal College, Bangor in 1858 for the Nonconformists.

1849: FIRST WELSH SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA
William Meirion Evans, of Llanfrothen, Merioneth, is believed to have been the first person to hold religious services in the Welsh language on the Australian continent when he preached at Burra in 1849. Evans is also remembered as the founder of the periodicals "Yr Awstrallydd" (the Australian) and "Yr Ymwelydd" (the Visitor) that acted as a link among the widely-scattered Australian Welsh communities during the second half of the 19th century.



1850: THE RHONDDA VALLEY TRANSFORMED
The Rhondda, described in 1847 as "this solitudinous and happy valley . . . where a Sabbath stillness reigns," was only three years later described as "a vision of hell" where were found "poor creatures broiling or in sweat and dirt, amid their furnaces, pits, and rolling mills." What was said of the Rhondda could also be said of the other four major South Wales Valleys, in which the transformation was as equally rapid and the squalid conditions as equally pervasive, yet which produced a vibrant community life.



1851: "Y DRYCH" (The Mirror) FOUNDED IN NEW YORK CITY
In order that the scattered Welsh congregations in the United States could keep in touch with one another, as well as with contemporary events in Wales, the Welsh-American newspaper "Y Drych" was started on January 2, 1851. First known as "Y Drych Americanaidd" (The American Mirror), moving to Utica in 1860, to Wisconsin in 1889 and then to Minnesota, it has remained a vibrant source of news about Welsh activities in North America ever since.



1854: "Y GWYDDONIADUR CYMREIG" (The Welsh Encyclopedia)
The first of the ten volumes of "The Welsh Encyclopedia" was edited by John Parry at the Thomas Gee Press, Denbigh. The book contains theological, geographical, scientific and literary material as well as Welsh and Celtic subjects and biographies.



1859: "BANER AC AMSERAU CYMRU" FOUNDED
"The Banner and Times of Wales", also known as "Y Faner", came out of a joining of the weeklies "Yr Amserau" and "Baner Cymru". The paper has had a profound impact on the religious, political and literary life of Wales, especially during the latter half of the last century. In 1977, the format of the newspaper became that of a magazine -- one of the two national weekly journals in the Welsh language (the other is "Y Cymro").



1861: FIRST TRULY NATIONAL EISTEDDFOD HELD
In less than 10 years, with the opening up of the four-foot coal seam, the population of Aberdare doubled by 1861, mainly from in-migration from the Welsh-speaking areas. The Aberdare Eisteddfod attracted a great deal of interest throughout Wales: qualifying as the first truly "National Eisteddfod," its success led to the institution remaining an integral and much-loved part of Welsh culture ever since.



1861: GLADESTONE'S REPEAL OF PAPER DUTIES
The Prime Minister's repeal of the duties on paper led to an explosion of the Welsh press, resulting in a veritable sea of newspapers, pamphlet literature, magazines and critical quarterlies. Towns such as Merthyr, Swansea, Caernarfon and Denbigh became provincial capitals with influential newspapers.



1862-65: JOHN CEIRIOG HUGHES' POETRY PUBLISHED
Some of the most popular poetry in Wales was written by Hughes (bardic title "Ceiriog") between the years 1862 and 1865 under the titles "Oriau'r Bore" (Morning Hours) "Cant o Ganeuon" (One Hundred Songs),and "Y Bardd a'r Cerddor" (The Poet and the Musician). They remain popular today, especially in recitative competitions at many Esteddfodau.



1865: THE WELSH COLONY OF PATAGONIA FOUNDED
The most "successful" overseas Welsh settlement, in so far as maintaining its cultural identity is concerned, even surpassing those in such "Welsh" towns at Utica, N.Y. and Scranton, Pa., was that founded by a group of hardy pioneers in the most unlikely place, the Chubut Valley in Patagonia, southern Argentina.
The Argentine government, anxious to control a vast unpopulated area in which it was in dispute with the government of Chile, was willing to grant 100 square miles for the establishment of a Welsh state Y Wladfa and to protect it by the military. A Welsh emigration committee, under the leadership of Michael Jones of Bala, meeting in Liverpool (where there was a large Welsh population), decided that here was a chance to fulfill a dream that could not be turned down. Consequently, a group of nearly 200 Welshmen and women sailed away from Liverpool in late May, 1865 to the promised land. Their ship was the Mimosa, a brig of 447 tons. The ship arrived safely at what is now Puerto Madryn on the 27th day of July, 1865, landing its passengers the next day (a full account of the settlement (and of a 1996 visit) is given in my "Brief History of Wales".

After a period of considerable hardship, the settlement began to thrive; the first successful harvest followed the building of irrigation canals from the River Chubut. In the spring of 1868, the first sermon "Israel in the Wilderness" was given by Abram Matthews at Rawson in a roughly-built barn that served as a public hall and chapel. The first eisteddfod took place in 1876 at Beti Huws' farm; it became firmly established as a much-loved tradition at Trelew in 1900. In nearby Gaiman, Welsh tea-houses still cater to visitors to the lonely Argentinian province of Patagonia.



1867: THE GREAT REFORM ACT
The Parliamentary Reform Act of this year gave the vote to every male householder in the boroughs and to every male householder in the counties with premises rated at 12 pounds or more. Overnight, almost 60,000 new voters were created in Wales, the majority voting Liberal in the next election and shattering the political power of the great Tory landlords and industrialists in Wales.



1869: THE "WESTERN MAIL" FOUNDED
The paper was founded primarily to serve the commercial interests of the third Marques of Bute, but in 1877, bought by Henry Carr, it became established as the foremost daily newspaper in Wales. A mostly true-blue conservative paper from its beginning, and scathingly ridiculed by nationalist and songwriter Dafydd Iwan in the late 1960's for its pro-English, anti-Welsh opinions, the paper has undergone a surprising turn of face, even arguing in favor of a referendum on devolution in 1979 and 1997. Perhaps Dafydd's favorite meal is no longer fish and chips served up in the pages of the Western Mail.

1870: THE EDUCATION ACT SETS UP BOARD SCHOOLS
The Board Schools, in which basic skills would be taught to children of the "lower classes" were set up throughout Wales. In them, all teaching was done through the medium of English and religious instruction was strictly that of the Church of England.



1872: WALES' FIRST UNIVERSITY AT ABERYSTWYTH OPENS
Sir Hugh Owen, a pioneer in education in Wales, had written an open letter to the Welsh people in 1843 urging the acceptance of the schools of the British and Foreign Schools Society. Over 300 schools were set up in Wales. Owen then began tireless efforts to secure a university (thus fulfilling a dream of Owain Glyndwr) that came to fruition in 1872 when Aberystwyth University opened, thanks to voluntary contributions from all parts of Wales and from all walks of life after the Government had refused financial help..



1873: THE COAL OWNERS' ASSOCIATION IS FORMED
The beginnings of trade unionism seemed to threaten the enormous power wielded by the coal owners who formed the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coal owners' Association (MSCA) in 1873, to present a united front against their workers. Two years later, the Association was able to introduce the system of payment known as "the sliding scale," setting wages to the selling price of coal.



1877: THE CAMBRIAN MINERS' ASSOCIATION FORMED
Following years of constant defeats in their battles against the coal owners, the workers were persistent in their attempts to form unions. In 1877, the Cambrian Miners' Association, founded in the Rhondda Valley, began to organize strikes as their only resource against the MSCA.



1879: DANIEL OWEN PUBLISHES "OFFRYMAU NEILLDUAETH"
When Daniel Owen published his account of the sermons of Roger Edwards in "Offrymau Neillduaeth a Cymeriadau Methodistaidd" (Sacrificial Offerings and Methodist Characters) in 1879, he was persuaded to try his hand at writing Welsh novels. He went on to publish "Y Dreflan", "Rhys Lewis, Enoc Huws" and a collection of essays all of which showed his keen observation of character and society. Despite major faults as a storyteller, Owen can be considered Wales's first novelist.



1880: GENERAL ELECTION
In a break with the old tradition of electing members from the landed gentry to Parliament, the General Election of 1880 returned members more representative of the general population. In addition, following the impetus of the General Election of 1867, a Welsh Liberal Party was created that had enormous influence on the direction of politics for the next 60 years.



1881: THE ABERDARE COMMISSION
Unlike the 1847 Treachery of the Blue Books, the Aberdare Commission's report was not written by those hostile to or wholly ignorant of the Welsh language; nevertheless, they took it for granted that all intermediate and secondary education in Wales would be through the medium of English. The Commission did recommend that the Government fund two new university colleges, at Bangor in the North, and Cardiff in the South. Though funding was later granted to the already-established college at Aberystwyth, the other colleges had to wait a long while.



1881: WELSH RUGBY UNION ESTABLISHED
Brought to Wales by students at St. David's College, Lampeter (Llanbedr Pont Steffan) now a part of the University of Wales, rugby quickly spread to the industrial valleys of the South, where it gained the reputation of replacing religion as the area's chief weekend activity. It is not too far-fetched to state that rugby IS the religion of much of South Wales (both have been in serious trouble of late).
Despite a falling off in its basic skills of the game since the glorious 1970's, around much of the world the name of Wales is synonymous with that of Rugby football (though the sport was developed at Rugby School in England).



1881: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL CLOSING ACT
The passing of the Welsh Sunday Closing Act of 1881 showed that Parliament could pass legislation specifically engineered for the people of Wales, who thus gained a symbol of their separateness. That this symbol of Welsh legislation was, or soon came to be unacceptable to the majority of working people in Wales (whom it most affected) is not as important as the precedent it set in future Acts concerning Wales as a separate unit.



1884: ACT OF PARLIAMENT AUTHORIZES THE BUILDING OF BARRY DOCK
Huge congestion at Cardiff, where 72 percent of Welsh coal exports were handled, led to the coal owners' successful petition for a new dock at Barry where a rapid increase in population accompanied the industrial growth. The new dock symbolized the frantic growth of Welsh industry and the important place that Welsh coal played in world trade and shipping.



1885: THE SOCIETY FOR THE UTILIZATION OF THE WELSH LANGUAGE FOUNDED
At the National Eisteddfod, Aberdare, Dan Isaac Davies helped found Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) that envisioned a bilingual Wales. Davies aimed to have three million bilingual Welsh in the next 100 years. His report on elementary education to the Cross Commission led to some concessions to the teaching of Welsh that were later to prove vital in the survival of the language.



1886: CYMRU FYDD FOUNDED
From Bala, in Merionethshire, Tom Ellis worked hard to bring social equality, individual freedom and universal education to Wales. Greatly impressed by the determination of the Irish MP's, he helped found the Cymru Fydd movement (The Wales of the Future), inspired by the renewal of Gaelic in Ireland and by the revival of small nations elsewhere in Europe. Lloyd George took over leadership of the movement but other Welsh MP's did not support him. In a meeting at Newport in January 1896, he was howled down by those who did not wish to see "the domination of Welsh ideas." The sentiments expressed at this meeting, showing the bitter divide between North Wales and Southeast Wales (that anticipated the 1997 divisions over the Referendum), as well as Ellis' early death in 1899, led to the rapid decline of the movement.

1887: THE TITHE MARTYRS OF LLANGWM
Violent protests against the established Church's imposition of tithes took place around Denbigh, Clwyd, where 31 men from the parish of Llangwm were summoned and where riots at nearby Mochdre led to many injuries. The secretary of the Caernarfon branch of the Anti-Tithe league was the up-and-coming solicitor David Lloyd George. In 1891 the troubles ceased when responsibility for the tithe was passed from the tenant to the landlord. In Parliament, however, the Welsh Issue showed that some notice had been taken of Wales, and that Welsh MP's could show some cohesion in articulating Welsh matters. A pity that the North-south divide still prevented a united front to press for some semblance of home rule.



1887: THE BLACKSTONE ESTEDDFOD ESTABLISHED
In Australia, the increasing number of immigrants led to the establishment of a vigorous Welsh community at Blackstone, in the Ipswich Coalfields, where the St. David's Society began a local eisteddfod that developed into the modern Australia-wide eisteddfod movement.



1888: THE ADOPTION OF MABON'S MONDAY
William Abraham (Mabon) kept the peace between coal owners and miners for 20 years. Through his untiring efforts, he was able to win some concessions for his workers, including modifications to the sliding scale of 1875 and a holiday on the first Monday of each month, Mabon's Monday. Elected Lib-Lab MP for Rhondda in 1885, he firmly believed that the interests of capital and labor were identical,a man far ahead of his time.



1889: THE WELSH INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION ACT
For the first time, public money was authorized to be spent on schools higher than the elementary level; the so-called County Schools came into being. In 1896, the Central Welsh Board was established. Welsh people from all backgrounds were to receive a sound education, albeit in English and albeit in the arts at the expense of sorely-needed technical and commercial subjects.



1889: THE MINERS' FEDERATION OF GREAT The Miners' Federation of Great Britain Founded
It was at Newport, South Wales, that the Miner's Federation of Great Britain was founded in 1889. It argued for the creation of a Board of Arbitration to replace the sliding scale and the restriction of the working day to eight hours (the sliding scale was finally abolished in 1903).



1890: LLOYD GEORGE ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT
David Lloyd George, the Manchester-born, Welsh-speaking solicitor, was elected to Parliament from the Caernarfon constituency. His rise through the ranks was rapid; he became President of the Board of Trade in 1915, where he recognized the role of trade unions in collective bargaining; and Chancellor by 1908, in which capacity he introduced a scheme of social security (old age pensions). In 1909, in his "People's Budget," he introduced a scheme to raise revenue by taxing wealthy landowners. Rejection of the Bill by the landlord-filled House of Lords led to the 191l Parliament Act drastically reducing that senile body's powers. In the same year, Lloyd George established National Insurance to safeguard workers against sickness and unemployment. Many of his radical reforms led him to be reviled in England as "the curse from Wales" but adored in Wales as "the son of the cottage."



1891: "CYMRU" PUBLISHED
A monthly magazine, "Cymru" contained articles on the history, literature and culture of Wales. First edited by Owen M. Edwards, and later by his son Ifan ab Owen Edwards, it had a great influence upon a generation of writers and poets. The motto of the magazine was Codi'r hen wlad yn ei hol (To raise the old land to what it once was) Edwards also edited a most influential children's magazine "Cymry'r Plant" (the Children's Wales) and founded Urdd y Delyn (Order of the Harp) a predecessor to the later hugely successful Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Welsh Youth League).



1891: THE MCKINLEY TARIFF
The American Government passed the McKinley Tariff to promote home industries, especially since fully three-quarters of the products of the Welsh tinplate industry had been imported to the United States. The passing of the Tariff was a severe blow to Welsh industry; and some areas never fully recovered from its effects.



1893: THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES CHARTER
By the Charter, a federation of the three Welsh university colleges was set up that could grant its own degrees (previous Welsh candidates had to apply to the University of London for examination)



1896: "CARTREFI CYMRU" PUBLISHED
Owen M. Edwards's most important work,"Cartrefi Cymru" (Welsh Homes), describes his visits to the homes of major figures in Welsh history, thus stirring interest in the all-too-often-neglected history and geography of Wales.



1898: THE SOUTH WALES MINERS' FEDERATION
The first president of the SWM, set up in October 1898 after the major strike of that year caused by the owners' refusal to accept a minimum wage, was Mabon, who had abandoned his support of the sliding scale. A few months after its founding, the "Fed" joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.



1900: ELECTION OF KEIR HARDIE TO PARLIAMENT
The Scotsman Keir Hardie was elected to Parliament as the representative of the newly formed Labour Representative Committeee.in the Merthyr constituency. (In 1906, the Party became known as the Labour Party.) Hardie had adopted the slogan The Red Dragon and the Red Flag. He was the only socialist elected to Parliament, where his cloth deerstalker hat stood out among the shiny top hats of the other Members, much to their chagrin.

1900: TAFF VALE RAILWAY CASE
This case involved the Taff Vale Railway Company against the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS). The courts held that a union could be sued for damages caused by the actions of its officials in industrial disputes. The verdict practically eliminated the strike as a weapon of organized labor. Opposition to the decision helped foster the growth of the British Labour Party (The Liberal Government of 1906 nullified the effects of the 1900 decision, and thus opened the door for trade unionism's long record of industrial action).



1900: THE GREAT UNREST
The great strike at the huge Penrhyn Slate Quarry in Gwynedd began on 22 November, 1900. It was to become the longest-lasting dispute in British history. The arrogant Lord Penrhyn, from his magnificent Baronial pile on the shores of the Menai, demanded absolute obedience and submissiveness from his quarry men. The strike, which was eventually broken by Penrhyn, totally divided the Welsh-speaking community; thousands left the area, never to return. In South Wales, because of the far greater numbers of men employed, intolerable working conditions and low wages led to radical action that was more successful through its adoption of socialism. The 191l meeting of the Unofficial Reform Committee at Tonypandy adopted the strike as a means to settling affairs: the whole South Wales coalfield was affected.



1900: THE WELSH LITERARY RENAISSANCE BEGINS
The publication of "The Welsh People" in 1900 by John Rhys and Brynmor Jones signalled the beginnings of a literary revival in Wales. In 1901 came "Wales", by Owen Edwards, followed by the monumental "A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest", by J. E. Lloyd in 1911. Two years later appeared John Morris-Jones' "A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative."



1902: "YMADAWIAD ARTHUR" PUBLISHED
The Chair at the 1902 Eisteddfod was won by T. Gwynn Jones, the son of a North Wales crofter and a master at the art of cynganedd. His theme was "Ymadawiad Arthur" (The Departure of Arthur), the first in a series of major poems that deal with Celtic legends and considered a landmark in the history of 20th century Welsh poetry.



1904: THE GREAT RELIGIOUS REVIVAL
Starting in Cardiganshire, and quickly spreading throughout Wales, the Revival, led by Evan Roberts, like the Great Industrial Unrest, also had international repercussions: from it sprang the Apostolic Church and the Elim movement, and boosted by it was the Temperance Movement and the campaign for disestablishment of the Church in Wales. The emphasis on hymn singing at the expense of some of the old, traditional folk songs had effects that are still being felt today in Welsh music.



1905: CARDIFF ELEVATED TO CITY STATUS
The majestic pile of civic buildings that dominates the center of the city are an impressive testimonial to the wealth derived from the export of coal and the growth of Cardiff's importance at the turn of the 19th century. Experiencing a seven-fold population increase in less than 50 years, the people of Cardiff petitioned for City status, duly granted in 1905 (even though the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon was created in 1921, Swansea had to wait until the 1960's to gain the title of City).



1906: JOHN AMBROSE JONES DIES
John Ambrose Jones (Emrys ap Iwan), scathing in his attacks on those who catered to English immigrants in Wales by adopting their language, was one of the fathers of the modern nationalistic movement in Wales. Though he published only two books, through his essays and sermons, he convinced many that language is an essential part of a people's view of their nationhood.



1907: THE NATIONAL LIBRARY AND THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES OPENS
The movement for a National Library of Wales had begun with the founding of Aberystwyth University in 1872, but it was not until the Royal Charter of 1907 that the LIbrary was established. The building of the present library began in 191l and a year later, under the Copyright Act, it became one of the six British libraries entitled to claim a cop of all books, pamphlets, maps etc published in the British Isles.
The year 1907 also saw a Charter of Incorporation establishing the National Museum of Wales, soon to become one of the finest and largest museums in the British Isles. The First World War interrupted progress, and it was not until 1922 that the main hall and galleries in Cardiff's magnificent Civic Center were opened to the public (formally opened by King George V in 1927). Subsequent branch museums include the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum, Cardiff; the Welsh Folk Museum at St. Fagan's, Cardiff (one of the finest in the world); Turner House at Penarth; the Roman Legionary Museum, Caerleon; the Museum of the Welsh Woollen Industry at Dre-Fach, Felindre; the Welsh Slate Museum and the Museum of the North, both at Llanberis in Gwynedd.



1910: THE TONYPANDY RIOTS
Much of the turmoil in the coalfields was symbolized by the Tonypandy Riots, in which the presence of armed soldiers to keep order, sent by Home Secretary Winston Churchill, did much to make that great man's name anathema in the Valleys (that most of the troops openly fraternized with the locals did nothing to lessen Churchill's infamy in the area). The very act of sending the troops also led to a great distrust of the English Government and hastened the rapid rise of socialism and the Labour Party in South Wales.



1910: "YR HAF" (The Summer) THE PRIZE WINNING POEM
At the 1910 National Eisteddfod, R. Williams Parry's poem signaled his arrival on the literary scene. Known as "Y Bardd yr Haf" (the poet of summer), Williams Parry, from the bleak North Wales quarry region, wrote of the horrors of war and the love of nature. In 1924 he published his influential "Yr Haf a Cherddi Eraill" (Summer and other poems).



1911: UNOFFICIAL REFORM COMMITTEE MEETS
At the newly-formed Central Labour College in London, Welshmen James Griffiths, Aneurin Bevan, Ness Edwards and others learned the necessity of industrial action in order to achieve ownership of the mines and control the system of production. Thus, with their leadership, the Unofficial Reform Committee was formed, first meeting at Tonypandy, Rhondda in 191l. It led to a series of strikes in the coalfields and the demand of the miners for legislation to ensure their rights.

1913: "A WELSH GRAMMAR, HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE" PUBLISHED
John Morris-Jones was determined to set studies of the Welsh language and literature on a firm foundation, and his "Grammar" gives him a solid place as one of the great grammarians of the Welsh language. It was Morris-Jones who concluded that the elaborate ceremonies of the Gorsedd had been invented in London by Iolo Morgannwg and others (the discovery did nothing to lessen their popularity).



1913: THE EXPLOSION AT SENGHENYDD (14 OCTOBER)
At the Lancaster Pit, owned by the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, an explosion killed 439 men. The Welsh-speaking community was totally devastated by the tragedy; laid bare and stripped of a generation of its workers, many of whom were young boys. A contemporary poem reads: "The collier's wife had four tall sons Brought from the pit's mouth dead, And crushed from foot to head; When others brought her husband home, Had five dead bodies in her room." The coal owners had ignored warnings of the dangers in the mine only a short time before.



1914: A WELSH HOME RULE BILL INTRODUCED
The introduction of the Welsh Home Rule Bill at Parliament was more or less a one man affair, and its presenter, E.T. John (born at Pontypridd but MP for East Denbigh) was practically ignored by the House of Commons. Yet his arguments in favor of the economic benefits of a separate Wales were to resurface in the 1997 referendum.



1914: WORLD WAR I BEGINS
In and following the Great War of 1914 to 1918, Wales was once again to undergo a metamorphosis. Like the Irish volunteers, the young men of Wales responded to give their lives in the service of another country. It certainly helped the cause that Lloyd George, their favorite son, had a meteoric career during the course of the conflict, becoming Minister of Munitions, Secretary for War, and Prime Minister. Propaganda from the Government and the pulpit ensured that war hysteria and patriotic fervor were well-fuelled. Germany was portrayed as a great evil that no Christian could tolerate, and Socialists and Nonconformists in Wales marched happily to the colors (and to their deaths) singing their stirring hymns.
Welsh regiments were proud of their part in this great Crusade. Over 280,000 Welshmen shared experiences with soldiers from all parts of Britain and the Empire; it was inevitable that much of their provincial outlook would be broken down. It was hard to think of independence for Wales when its soldiers were sharing trenches with Irish, Scots, English soldiers all united in a common cause. The continuance of that Anglo-Welsh identity begun in the Valleys that came to dominate Welsh life in the twentieth century certainly found an ideal breeding ground in the mud of Flanders and the slaughter on the Somme.



1915: LORD RHONDDA SURVIVES THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
One of the survivors of the Lusitania disaster was the 1st Viscount Rhondda who introduced food rationing to Britain during the war and who directed the supply of munitions from the United States to Britain.



1916: LLOYD GEORGE BECOMES PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Former lawyer, David Lloyd George, born in Manchester of Welsh parents and raised in the little village of Llanystumdwy, Gwynedd, became the first Welshman in British history to achieve the position of Prime Minister.



1917: THE BIRKENHEAD EISTEDDFOD
During Word War I, the large Welsh community on Merseyside staged the National Eisteddfod at Birkenhead, England, where there was a large Welsh population. The winner of the Chair was Ellis Humphrey Evans, (Hedd Wynn) who had been killed on 31 July in France fighting with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Thus the winning chair was draped in black. A collection of the dead poet's work, "Cerddi'r Bugail" (Poems of the Shepherd) was published in 1918.



1920: UNIVERSITY COLLEGE SWANSEA ESTABLISHED
The new college at Singleton Park, Swansea joined the others at Bangor, Aberystwyth and Cardiff as part of the University of Wales.



1920: THE CHURCH OF WALES DISESTABLISHED
The Parliamentary Bill that would deprive the Anglican Church of its status in Wales as the State Church was passed in 1914, but its implementation was delayed because of World War One. A Society for Liberating the Church from the State had begun in Britain in 1853, following an earlier Anti-State-Church Association and much bitter debate over Church Establishment. The Church in Ireland was disestablished in 1869 by Gladstone, but it was not until 1920 when a disestablished province of the Anglican Communion was finally created in Wales.



1921: SAUNDERS LEWIS' "THE EVE OF ST. JOHN" PUBLISHED
This play was the first of 19 published by Lewis (the last was "Excelsior", 1980). His influence as dramatist, poet, literary historian and critic is unparalleled in Welsh literary history. For over a decade he was president of Plaid Cymru, which he helped found. His writings show his great concern that Wales was losing its sense of vision and moral integrity.



1922: URDD GOBAITH CYMRU FOUNDED
Though almost a million people spoke the Welsh language in 1921, signs about its disappearance in many areas were already becoming increasingly ominous. It was his concern that the young children of Wales were increasingly turning to English that led Ifan ab Owen Edwards to found Urdd Gobaith Cymru (The Welsh League of Youth) in 1922. The movement took over many of the activities of Urdd y Delyn (Order of the Harp) which had been founded in 1896 for Welsh children by Owen M. Edwards, Ifan's father. The Movement attracted thousands of children to its ranks, where they spoke and sang Welsh at summer camps, weekly and monthly meetings, and at school activities. The Urdd has retained its popularity.



1925: PLAID CYMRU (the Party of Wales) FOUNDED
After World War I, with its massive loss of life that affected whole Welsh-speaking communities, the language began a precipitous decline, and with it, a distinct way of life. In an attempt to stop the rot, Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru (The National Party of Wales) came into being, the brainchild of a handful of visionaries who saw that political action was necessary to preserve what was left of the unique culture and to further the aims of self-government for Wales. Saunders Lewis became president of the party in 1926, but it took over 40 years for Plaid to gain its first seat in Parliament.

1913: THE HADDOW REPORT
The report recommended that every child in Britain attend secondary school. The technical advances in agriculture and the decline of those engaged in farming meant that no longer were children needed on the land. In industry, though traditions died hard, important reforms had safeguarded the rights of children who could now look forward to education beyond the elementary level. Many problems caused the Central Labour College to close its doors in 1929, but other avenues opened for working class education.



1927: COLEG HARLECH ESTABLISHED
Thanks to Tom Jones and the Workers' Education Association, Coleg Harlech "the college of the second chance" opened in 1927 with the aims and philosophy much like those of today's Community Colleges, (called Polytechs in Britain).



1931: THE WELSH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT CARDIFF FOUNDED



1931: T. H. PARRY-WILLIAMS' POETRY PUBLISHED
Another influential literary figure from the area around Snowdon, Parry-Williams won both the Chair and the Crown at two National Eisteddfodau. His poetry took Welsh literature towards a new realism best expressed in the self-deprecating irony of such poems as "Hon" (This Spot) that expresses both a hatred and love for the enigma that is Wales.



1932: "Y CYMRO" (the Welshman) FOUNDED
The weekly Welsh-language newspaper was founded to "unite Wales and create a Welsh view and opinion on all things pertaining to Wales and the Welsh." It has remained an important source of information on Welsh life in general.



1934: THE GRESFORD DISASTER
On 22 September, 1934, the bells of Gresford Parish Church joined in with the sirens at the local colliery to announce that one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Welsh coal mining had taken place that morning when an explosion and fire ripped through the Dennis section of the mine. Apart from the lucky six men who escaped the blast, along with a few men at the pit bottom, all the men working that day were killed, a total of 266 miners. Such was the force of the explosion and the immensity of the following fire, that the pit was sealed off and the dead miners entombed forever where they lay. Over 160 widows were left in the surrounding villages to provide for over 200 children.
In 1982 a memorial to the dead miners was erected in the form of the wheel from the old pit head winding gear. On the 6Oth anniversary of the disaster, a memorial painting in Gresford Church was unveiled by the Archbishop of Wales that shows various scenes and people at the colliery the day of the explosion.



1935: FIRST RADIO BROADCAST IN WELSH
It was a reluctant BBC that finally agreed, after much pressure, to broadcast Welsh language programs from their studio at Bangor, Gwynedd. Radio Cymru had to wait until 1977, however, much too late to attract the majority of Welsh listeners, who now habitually spoke English. We can only guess at the positive impact on the language a complete Welsh-language broadcasting service in the early 1930's would have had.



1936: THE FIRE AT PENYBERTH (8 September)
To protest the government's decision to build a bombing school at Penyberth in the Llyn Peninsular, three well-known Welsh literary figures started a small fire in an outbuilding and then reported their nefarious deed to the local police. After a no-verdict was reached by a sympathetic Welsh jury at Caernarfon, confessing their guilt, Saunders Lewis, D.J. Williams, and Lewis Valentine were sent to trial at the Old Bailey in London. Here they were not allowed to testify in their own language. The case became a cause celebre for the efforts of Plaid Cymru to establish its credentials as a party to be taken seriously and for the Welsh language to be given legal status.

The outbreak of World War II three years later did much to undo the enthusiasm engendered by the symbolic act at Penyberth, but it stirred the conscience of R. Williams Parry to write against official smugness and small-mindedness, leading to his "Cerddi'r Gaeaf" (Poems of Winter) published in 1952.



1939-1945: WORLD WAR II
Once again, the people of Britain focused on their shared identity in the face of a foe that threatened their survival as a nation. Plaid Cymru conceded that the defeat of Germany and its allies overrode any other concern. The pacifism of Saunders Lewis was viewed by many as traitorous, though his willingness to suffer on behalf of Wales became significant after the war when feelings of nationalism again began to surface. As in 1914-18, Welshmen and women were enthusiastic in marching off to defeat the enemy and to save Britain and its Empire (the author's own Welsh father, captured by Japanese troops along with thousands of his fellows at Singapore, often wondered what he had been doing out there in the first place).



1945: LABOUR GOVERNMENT ELECTED
In 1945 the Labour government, headed by Clement Attlee, determined that there should never be a repeat of the unemployment levels that were so common a feature of the pre-war years. The Distribution of Industry Act sanctioned the use of existing factory space in Wales and new industrial estates were established, mainly in the heavily populated south, aided by grants and low-interest loans. A flood of new, light industries came to replace the old reliance on coal.



1946: NATIONAL INSURANCE ACT
It was Lloyd George who had introduced much of the revolutionary welfare legislation during the years 1908-11, and it was two other Welshmen who completed the far-reaching reforms of the Labour Party's policies after WW II. James Griffiths and Aneurin Bevan both worked hard to produce the National Insurance Act of 1946 that compelled all workers to insure themselves against ill-health or unemployment. Two years later, local welfare schemes long practiced in the South Wales coalfield also helped bring about the national Industrial Injuries Act.

1947: WALES GAS BOARD ESTABLISHED
The nationalization of industry began in 1947, the central boards taking over administration of all industry in Wales, yet only the Wales Gas Board was recognized as a national identity. The old encyclopedia entry "Wales: see England," still applied as far as the government was concerned.



1947: WELSH SCHOOL ESTABLISHED AT LLANELLI
To counter the threat to the continuance of the Welsh language caused by massive immigration from England, a private Welsh-medium school was established at Aberystwyth during World War II by Ifan ab Owen Edwards. It wasn't until the Llanelli Welsh School opened in 1947, however, that the startlingly radical idea that Welsh-speaking children could be taught through the medium of their own language began to take hold and even then, only begrudgingly in many areas.



1948: THE COUNCIL OF WALES ESTABLISHED
Despite the objections of Aneurin Bevan, ever anxious to keep Wales closely involved in the mainstream of British politics, intensive lobbying efforts of more-nationalistic-minded James Griffiths helped bring about the Council of Wales in 1948 as a purely advisory body. In 1951, the office of Minster for Welsh Affairs was created to make occasional, ever-so-slight gestures toward the forces that favored devolution. Yet It was a beginning: at long last it was begrudgingly recognized in Parliament that there were such things as Welsh Affairs.



1953: HOWELL ELVET LEWIS DIES
Lewis (Elfed) as a minister, hymn-writer and poet was an important figure in the literary history of his country. One of his hymns, "Cofia'n Gwlad", has been called the second national anthem of Wales. Another popular hymn, written in English, is "The Light of the Morning is Breaking."



1953: DYLAN THOMAS DIES
One bleak November day in 1953, the author was sitting in an English class at Swansea University, less than a mile from Dylan Thomas's childhood home at Cwmdonkin Drive, when the instructor was handed a note. Her brief "Dylan is dead; class dismissed," announced to us that one of the greatest of this century's lyric poets had died in New York City, alone and penniless, and very drunk. The Welsh poet, whose reputation as one of the most important and challenging writers of modern literature in English is assured, is buried in the little sea-side town of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, where the little shed in which he crafted his art is now a place of pilgrimage.



1954: W.J. CRUFFYDD DIES
W.J. Gruffydd, a quarryman's son from Gwynedd who made many important contributions to Welsh scholarship, wrote poetry praising the hard-working, simple countryfolk (the gwerin) and numerous works dealing with "The Mabinogion."



1955: CARDIFF SELECTED AT NATION'S CAPITAL
A grudging nod towards Welsh aspirations came from Westminster when Cardiff was chosen as a capital city for Wales (beating out other more historic and "more Welsh" candidates such as Aberystwyth, Caernarfon, and Machynlleth). Wales could now think of herself as a real nation with its own capital city, on equal footing with other small nations throughout Europe.



1956: YSGOL GLAN CLWYD LEADS THE WAY
In heavily anglicized Flintshire, Dr Hadyn Williams was mainly responsible for setting up Wales's first secondary school that would teach through the medium of the Welsh language. First located in Rhyl, a seaside resort, and then moved inland to St. Asaph (Llanwelwy), Ysgol Glan Clwyd was followed by similar schools in Flintshire, (Ysgol Maes Garmon in Mold) in 1961, and in Glamorganshire (Ysgol Rhydyfelen) in 1962. A great beginning had been made, and despite much resistance (even in Welsh-speaking areas such as Preseli), there were fourteen such schools by the mid-1980's. Throughout Wales, sensible parents are beginning to see the advantages of a bilingual education for their offspring and no longer accept the argument that their English would suffer.



1957: THE DROWNING OF TRYWERIN
In the 1950's with the increased wealth and leisure time of the British population and the improved roads leading into Wales, ancient language strongholds were crumbling fast under the invasions of the hordes from Merseyside and the English Midlands (it didn't really matter in much of South Wales, where the predominant language had long been English). To add insult to injury, the Liverpool Corporation got the go-ahead from Parliament (despite the objections of all the Welsh M P's) to drown the Trywerin Valley to satisfy its thirsty multitudes (many of whom were immigrants from Ireland).
No matter that Trywerin housed a strong and vibrant Welsh-speaking community, the plan went ahead. The whole village had to be rehoused elsewhere (how about a nice, council flat in lovely bucolic Liverpool?). The powerlessness of Wales, its people, and even its representatives in Parliament was startlingly demonstrated by the drowning of the valley. It was apparent that something had to be done and be done soon, or the nation of Wales would be gone forever.



1958: HUW T. EDWARDS DEFECTS
Trywerin had its positive results after all. As a young man living in Flintshire at the time, I remember the immense popularity enjoyed by Huw T as the secretary of the all-powerful Transport and General Workers Union in the North and the shock caused by his defection from the Labour party to Plaid Cymru in 1958. Edwards resigned his chairmanship of the Council of Wales because of its ineptitude and lack of clout. By attracting such well-known and respected personalities, Plaid could no longer be regarded a "bunch of fanatic nationalists."



1962: A NEW "CYMDEITHAS YR IAITH GYMRAEG" FOUNDED
Saunders Lewis, perhaps the most respected literary figure in Wales, certainly its finest dramatist, had been one of "the Penyberth Three" that stirred the conscience of the Welsh people in their general apathy towards the continuing loss of their language and culture. In 1962, following Trywern, Lewis's concern that the Wales he knew would soon disappear unless drastic action was taken, was expressed in his radio lecture of 13 February, "Tynged yr Iaith". Its effect was revolutionary, starting a chain of events that transformed the attitudes of so many in Wales and leading to the formation of a new Cymdeithias Yr Iaith Gymraeg. (the Welsh Language Society).

Beginning with a sit-down to block traffic at Trefechan Bridge, Aberystwyth on 23 February, 1963, the Society went on a long campaign of civil disobedience to force the Government to recognize the Welsh language. Its activities bore fruit with the report The Legal Status of the Welsh Language (1965) recommending that Welsh be given equal validity with English in law. Its other campaigns led to the provision of adequate television facilities in Welsh and the Government's acceding to the demand for road signs and traffic directions in Welsh as well as English.

1964: SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WALES CREATED
The Labour Government under pressure, reluctantly created a Secretary of State for Wales with popular James Griffiths the first to occupy the position. The subsequent filling of the position by party hacks with no interest in Wales, merely using the post as a rung on the ladder to advancement, has not diminished the acknowledgement that Wales needed its own Secretary of State to address its own particular concerns.



1966: GWYNFOR EVANS ELECTED (14 July)
At Carmarthen, in the election caused by the death of Lady Megan Lloyd George, the popular Gwynfor Evans of Plaid gained a majority over the Labour candidate that put him in Parliament. Westminster now had its first MP from a party born in and centered in Wales that put the interests of the Welsh people first.



1966: THE ABERFAN DISASTER (21 October)
At Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, 144 children and their teachers at the Pant-Glas Junior School were buried under a pile of slag (piled-up waste from the collieries) that, softened by heavy rain, slipped unnoticed down the mountain side. The tragedy, shocking the whole of Britain out of its complacency, hastened the ever-so-slow clean up of the industrial wastes in the South Wales valleys after the departure of the old industries.



1967: THE WELSH LANGUAGE ACT
The Hughes-Parry Report of 1965, The Legal Status of the Welsh Language recommended that "anything done in Welsh should have the same legal force as it would in English." This principle, somewhat diluted, was incorporated into the Welsh Language Act. Though the Act granted the right to testify in Welsh in Court, and the right to have official, government forms translated from English, in effect, it was hopelessly inadequate. Its inadequacies, however, whetted Welsh appetites for more and stirred up the activities of Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg.



1967: THE GITTINS REPORT
Professor Gittins, who supervised the author's teacher-training at Swansea University in the mid-1950's, headed the committee that produced the report Primary Education in Wales. It recommended that "every child should be given sufficient opportunity to reasonably bilingual by the end of the primary stage" As most Welsh children were monoglot English speakers, the implementation of the report in the more enlightened areas created a new generation of those who could speak Welsh by the time they were ready for entry into Secondary education. Some education authorities, such as West Glamorgan, were notoriously adverse to the idea. Their blinkered vision reflected more than 100 years of Anglicization.



1969: THE INVESTITURE OF CHARLES AT CAERNARFON
Ever since Edward I made his son Prince of Wales and Count of Chester at Caernarfon Castle in 1300, the title Prince of Wales has been automatically confirmed upon the first-born son of the sovereign. In 191l, the spectacle came to the attention of the world when movie newsreels and radio broadcasts showed the ceremonies that invested the future Edward VIII at Caernarfon under the shrewd orchestration of Lloyd George. Even more hoopla attended the 1969 investiture of Charles, also at Caernarfon, which was televised to the world and in which the young prince was satirized in a popular song by Dafydd Iwan as "Carlo." Fair play for Charles, he did go to Wales to learn some of the language, an idea that had been suggested to the tutors of the future Charles II, and the future Edward VII (nothing came of the earlier suggestions).



1969: DEATH OF JIMMY WILDE, "THE MIGHTY ATOM" (March)
Jimmy Wilde, whose nicknames include "the Mighty Atom," "the Tylorstown Terror," and The Ghost with a Hammer in his Hand," was the smallest and lightest world champion ever. Born at Tylorstown, Rhondda, on 15 May 1892, he fought at 98 lbs, having to give away a great deal of weight to his opponents in the ring, some of whom were almost twice his weight. It is claimed that Wilde fought 864 opponents, starting in the boxing booths at the Valleys fairgrounds. The only boxer from Britain to be accepted in the USA as the finest in his division (fly weight), he was rated by four top American sportswriters as the greatest boxer ever. During his career, Jimmy averaged one bout every eight days. He had begun fighting as a coal miner. He once stated that the hardest fight in his life was that with his wife Elizabeth after he had lost a huge amount of money gambling with fellow Welsh boxer Jim Driscoll.
In today's terms, though he won only two world titles, he would have won five versions of the world championships "in a week if he'd wanted to" according to famed English boxing reporter Reg Gutteridge.



1971: WELSH NURSERY SCHOOL MOVEMENT FOUNDED
In response to a heavy demand, mainly from Welsh-speaking mothers who saw the need for their children to be immersed in the language at a very early age, the Welsh Nursery School Movement Sefydlu Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin came into being in many areas of Wales. In many totally English-speaking areas, many parents sent their children to such nursery schools, themselves going to evening classes to learn the necessary phrases to continue Welsh at home. The success of such schools has helped stop the rapid decline of the language.



1974: LOCAL GOVERNMENT REORGANIZED
The victory of Gwynfor Evans at Carmarthen in 1966 victory meant that the Labour Party had better do something to hold on to its majority in Wales. Many of its respected leaders, including the very influential and popular James Griffiths, now supported the call for an elected assembly for Wales. There were setbacks in the campaign, particularly by the attitude of members from Southeast Wales, once again fearing loss of their own prestige. Self-government for Wales remained an anathema to such self-serving, short-sighted political opportunists, and Instead of getting an elected assembly, Wales had to be content with the reorganization of local government.

The old thirteen counties now became eight new ones; in addition, the old boroughs and urban and rural districts were replaced by district councils. In the sweeping changes, for which no referendum had been held, Flint and Denbigh lost their individual identities, becoming part of the larger administrative unit to be known as Clwyd; Monmouthshire now became Gwent; Pembroke, Cardigan and Carmarthen joined to form Dyfed; Merionydd, Caernarfon and Anglesey became Gwynedd; Radnor joined Brecon as Powys; and the heavily populated county of Glamorgan split into three parts: East, Central and South.

1974: OATHS OF ALLEGIANCE IN WELSH ALLOWED AT PARLIAMENT
For the first time in the long history of Parliament, Welsh MP's were allowed to take their oaths of allegiance to the British Crown in the Welsh language as well as in English. That there were Members available to do this four hundred years after the Acts of Union is a stirring testimonial to the continued survival of the language against all possible odds.



1977: RADIO CYMRU AND RADIO WALES ESTABLISHED
The first of these broadcasts in Welsh; the second in English. Both came very late on the scene; both represent the increasing demands of Welsh people to be treated as equal partners with other Britons in a modern age.



1979: THE INFAMOUS REFERENDUM
When James Griffiths was succeeded as Secretary of State for Wales by Cledwyn Hughes, the new man was also in favor or an elected assembly for his country. In the face of hostility, most of it from members of his own party, Hughes tried hard to achieve some measures in that direction. His successor, however, was of a far different mind. George Thomas, a die-hard socialist of the old school, coming from a background in the pits, somehow saw the Welsh language as a threat to his own livelihood. His stubbornness and pride in his Anglo-Welsh heritage remained a stumbling block for years to any aspirations of the Welsh nationalists to gain any concessions from Parliament.
In Parliament, however, Elystan Morgan, M.P. of Cardigan, aided by a select few, did not abandon his hopes for a more equitable administrative system for his country and kept toiling in the vineyard. His efforts, and those of a few determined colleagues, led to a Royal Commission in 1968 to investigate the topic of devolution for Wales (and Scotland). When Britain became a member of the European Economic Community in 1972, new hopes arose for an elected assembly for Wales, one of Europe's oldest and smallest language communities. The Royal Commission recommended sweeping administrative changes. It presented the Scotland and Wales Bill of 1976. The government plans for a Welsh assembly, however, gave it no legislative powers (unlike that for Scotland).

Predictably, many Labour MP's remained solidly opposed to any kind of assembly for Wales, with or without legislative powers; they recommended a referendum, which they felt sure would be defeated. The Welsh Act of 1978 was introduced with the provision that the creation of an assembly would require 40 percent of the electorate to vote in favor. These MP's (who deserved the appellation of Dic Sion Dafydd) then worked diligently to influence their constituents to vote in the negative by appealing to their worst fears.

The voting took place on St. David's Day 1979 at a time when Britain was suffering some of the worst industrial unrest in its long history. Conditions ensured that there was very little enthusiasm expressed by any Cabinet members; the Bill was roundly attacked from all sides, but especially from Labour members such as Welshman Neil Kinnock, the future leader of the party.

The hopes for a Welsh Assembly went down to a resounding defeat, only one in four voting in favor. The list of reasons for the failure to seize their one big chance at some sense of political independence is endless. In retrospect, however, it is fair to say that it wasn't the idea of an assembly that was defeated as much as the way in which that assembly was to govern. After all, it would have been virtually powerless, unable to legislate, without any revenue-raising capability. In addition, the newly-formed counties were just finding their feet and were reluctant to go through the trauma of any more reorganization. All the negative campaigning, too, had created a climate of unnecessary fear. As at so many times in their history, the people of Wales had allowed themselves to be divided against each other.



1982: SIANEL PEDWAR CYMRU (S4C) ESTABLISHED
BBC Wales was producing a meagre six hours a week of Welsh language programs in 1962. It was not enough. Hadyn Williams, the dynamic Director of Education in Flintshire, established a company to broadcast to many areas out of reach of the English transmitters into the Welsh-speaking communities in North Wales. Its activities were taken over by TWW and then by Harlech Television. Demands quickly followed for all-Welsh programs, but the Government (which owned BBC) refused to honor a commitment to the proposed new channel. A vigorous protest movement ensued, but it wasn't until Gwynfor Evans, the highly respected leader of Plaid Cymru vowed to fast to death should the people of Wales once more be denied a basic right, that the Government capitulated. The new Channel S4C (Sianel Pedwar C) began broadcasting on 2 November, 1982.



1984: THE MINERS' STRIKE
When the Conservative government decided to strengthen private capitalism and restrict the role of the state, one of its first moves was to announce the closing of many of Britain's coal mines. In Wales, the coal industry was practically dead, but many Welsh miners backed National Union of Mine Workers' president Arthur Cargill's call to strike against the closing of the pits. The bitter strike lasted almost one year and despite great solidarity among the workers of Wales, including remarkable support from their womenfolk, the effort was doomed to fail. Indeed, it only served to hasten the inevitable: King Coal no longer ruled in South Wales.



1997: THE SUCCESSFUL REFERENDUM
In the weeks leading up to the 1997 Referendum it was not surprising to find most of the inhabitants of Flintshire completely indifferent to their fate. They followed the news from English newspapers, English radio stations and English television. In Scotland 90 percent of morning readers looked at newspapers published in their own country; in Wales, the figure was less than 10 percent In addition, almost one third of television viewers in Wales could not get Welsh television programs.

In North Wales, the majority supported the soccer teams of Everton, Liverpool, and Manchester United. Welsh rugby teams were far away somewhere in South Wales and thus of not much interest; the Welsh language seemed an ancient relic, spoken only in chapels on Sundays by the pious minority. Welsh-language secondary schools were too few and far between and too new to have any real impact on people's sense of history and the ancient traditions of what was for many, their adopted country. For hundreds of thousands in North Wales, England was their homeland; their songs were "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the Queen"; the Beatles and the Spice Girls were far better-known than Ar Log, Hin Deg, Dafydd Iwan or any of the other Welsh musical groups.

Maybe it was too late. Whatever the reasons, the result of the referendum was a bitter blow to the aspirations of Plaid Cymru and to all the others who had been in favor. In 1997, it was apparent that things hadn't changed all that much during the last twenty years.

There was still tension between North and South Wales, between the thousands of English immigrants to Wales and the hard-line, mostly Welsh speaking Welsh nationalists, between the Labour Heartlands and those who feared the imposition of a costly, Labour-dominated "talking shop." Other fears included that of domination by Cardiff, or the loss of Whitehall funds. Many Welsh stated that they'd had enough of English MP's and ministers telling them what was best for them; in addition, of the 2.25 million eligible to vote, over half a million had been born outside Wales, a huge majority being English. They showed not a flicker of interest in devolution. In Clwyd a few days before the referendum, the author saw not a single poster or leaflet advocating a Yes vote. Most people had not made up their minds, except to express the opinion that the proposed Assembly would simply mean "jobs for the boys," or another way for the "Labour Taffia" to fill their pockets.

Thus many of the factors that led to the defeat of the 1979 referendum were still present, after all, it may take many generations to erase what can only be considered anti-Welsh prejudice so prevalent in the anglicized areas, yet subtle changes had been taking place that helped swing the vote ever-so slightly in favor of an elected Assembly. Many of these changes had been brought about by the arrogance of the Conservative Party in its dealings with the people of Wales, an arrogance that led to the complete defeat of all its candidates in Wales (and Scotland) in the General Election held earlier in the year (in which the issue of Devolution had figured heavily in the campaigns).

It was heartening that two of the most influential newspapers read in Wales, the Liverpool"Daily Post" and the Cardiff "Western Mail" advocated a Yes vote. Disgust with the way things were handled in Westminster surely meant that there would be hearty support for the proposed changes expressed by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott that Wales must be in the vanguard of a constitutional reform package that would include Lords reform, electoral reform, and a referendum for a London-wide elected body. Another change from 1979 was that in the later referendum only a simple majority was needed to pass the Referendum Bill, whereas in the former a majority of the electorate itself was required.

It was a touch and go affair, and lots of nail biting took place on the night of the 19th of September until the final result was announced in the wee small hours of the morning. A quintessential English newspaper, the "Guardian" stated that the final Yes vote was delivered by Carmarthen, "the birthplace of David Lloyd George." All Welshmen know that the World War One Prime Minister was born in Manchester of Welsh parents, but was raised in Llanystumdwy, near Pwllheli, in Caernarfonshire. It is typical of an English newspaper to confuse Carmarthen with Caernarfon; the ignorance of Wales and Welsh history shown by such an influential source of information should be a cause of shame and embarrassment. It is also sad that most Welsh readers get all their news from English newspapers, very few of which give any coverage to Wales or to Welsh affairs.

Returning to the key role played by Carmarthen in the final victory to ensure that Wales would have its first ever democratically elected national body, it is significant that the Western county had chosen Gwynfor Evans as Plaid Cymru's first MP in 1966. In 1997, Gwynfor was 85 years old; the event, in his own words, was one of the happiest in his life. "In a sense," he stated, "the wheel has come full circle for me. Here in Carmarthenshire there is a tradition of supporting a measure of self-rule." The old politician, whose threat to embark on a hunger strike had done much to ensure the Government's support for SC4, the Welsh television channel, went on to state: " But it would be wrong to forget the contribution of people elsewhere, like the more than 10,000 in Monmouthshire [Gwent] who voted Yes . . . this is the difference between the last referendum and now." Gwynfor also noted that in the earlier referendum, the vast majority of the Labour Party had been against devolution.

According to Gwynfor, and to those who voted in favor of the Assembly, "apart from the opportunity to improve education, health and so on, the most important consequence of the Yes vote will be to give Welsh people more confidence in themselves." This is a confidence, went on Gwynfor, that has been lost for Wales as a people "since we were incorporated with England in the 16th century and have suffered from a sort of collective inferiority complex." He added, agreeing with Baron Richard of Ammanford, whom we mentioned earlier, that the Assembly would bring Wales closer to the European Union and would "enable [Welsh] people to see themselves as part of an order that is not just nationalist, but internationalist."

For the people of Wales, the decision to approve the Labour Government's plans for a Welsh Assembly may prove to be one of the most important decisions in its long history. The common sense of its people, combined with a love of their traditions and unique culture, should ensure a sound future for Wales proud to hold its head up as a nation in full partnership with its European counterparts. Let the final word come from Ron Davies, Welsh Secretary of State, "The Welsh Assembly will be established 12 months before the Scottish Parliament and before regional development agencies in the English regions. It will give Wales a clearer political identity and really put us on the map."