| We know very little of the first several hundred years of the Anglo-Saxon, or "English", era, primarily because the invaders were an illiterate people. Our earliest records of them are little more than highly inventive lists of rulers. We know that they established separate kingdoms, the Saxons settling in the south and west, the Angles in the east and north, and the Jutes on the Isle of Wight and the mainland opposite. They probably thought of themselves as separate peoples, but they shared a common language and similar customs. |
The king's power. One of these customs was fighting everyone in sight. A king's power was not
hereditary; it depended solely on his ability to win battles and so gain land, treasure, and slaves
to give his supporters. He was obliged to fight and keep fighting. If not, he would find himself out
of a job or deprived of his life, or both. Succession from father to son was never a forgone
conclusion. Any relative of the old king who could muster enough support could make a bid for
the throne. This helps to explain why the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came and went so quickly. The
power of any kingdom over its neighbours was only as solid as the strength of its king in battle.
King Offa. Roughly speaking, the 7th century was the age of Northumbrian ascendance, with
Mercia playing second fiddle. In the 8th century these roles reversed. The most powerful and
well known of the Mercian kings was Offa, who ruled from 758-796. A successful warrior (which
is a given for anyone in those days who managed to hold onto power for so long), he defeated
kings in Sussex, Anglia, and Wessex, proclaiming himself King of the English.
Offa's Dyke. Offa caused to be built the earthwork that still bears his name, Offa's Dyke, which
stretches the 150 mile length of the Welsh border. Begun in the 780's, the purpose of the dyke
seems to have been as a fortified frontier barrier, much as Hadrian's Wall some six centuries
previous.
In most places the ditch was 25 feet from the bottom of the cut to the top of the bank, with wood
or stonewalling on top of that. The work involved has been compared to the building of the Great
Pyramid. This gives us some idea of the power wielded by Offa. It seems that the dyke was not
permanently manned, relying instead on the warning given by a series of beacons.
Foreign attack. The upper hand enjoyed by the Mercians did not long survive Offa's death. In
the 820's a series of victories by Egbert, king of Wessex, broke Mercian control in the south
east. The 9th century may well have turned into a struggle for the upper hand between Mercia
and Wessex if not for one thing; England was once again the subject of recurring raids from
across the seas. This time it was the Danes and Norwegians. The Danes attacked the east coast
of England, the Norwegians attacked the north by way of Ireland and Scotland.
The Danes. The Danes found rich pickings in the undefended monastic settlements on
Lindisfarne Island and Jarrow, in Northumbria, but they were not out solely for loot. The Danish
raids were partly a response to population pressures in their homeland; so they wanted new
lands to settle, not merely easy plunder. They made good use of fortified settlements as bases to
expand, and their use of helmets, shields, chain mail, and particularly the long handled battle axe,
meant they were better armed than most of their foes.
Towards the end of the 6th century the Angles and Saxons in eastern Britain began to entertain
designs on the western lands. The inability of the independent western peoples to unify against
this threat left the most powerful kingdom, Gwynedd, as the centre of cultural and political
resistance, a position it has retained until today. The weaker groups were unable to hold the
invaders and after the Battle of Dyrham, near Gloucester in 577, the Britons in Cornwall were
separated from those in Wales who became similarly cut off from their northern kin in Cumbria
after the Battle of Chester in 616.
Though still geographically in a state of change, Wales could now be said to exist. At this point,
the racial mix in Wales was probably little different from that to the east, where Saxon numbers
were small, but the peoples resistance to the Saxons held Wales together. The Welsh started to
refer to themselves as Cymry (fellow countrymen), not by the Saxon term used by
English-speakers today, which is generally thought to mean either foreigners or Romanised
people.
Wales, like England in the Dark Ages, was a land of multiple kingships. The rugged terrain, with
impenetrable mountain massifs and inhospitable upland ranges, broken by river valleys, did not
make for a unified control or a unified development. Natural defences did not mark the boundary
with England, and productive lowland areas as well as profitable upland pastures were open to
frequent attacks. Not until Offa of Mercia built his dyke in the second half of the 8th century
was there a definable frontier, and that was designed mainly to deter Welsh attacks and control
trade across the new border. It was much the longest as well as the most striking man-made
boundary in the whole of western medieval Europe, and clearly came to play an important role in
shaping the perception of the extent and identity of Wales. Small local communities
acknowledged a ruler whose principal function might seem at times to wage war on his
neighbours and to plunder their lands. In general, war made them defensive.
The principal divisions of Wales (right) were the four major kingdoms or principalities. Gwynedd
was based on the Snowdonia massif and on Anglesey. Powys stretched from the borders of
Mercia into central Wales. Dyfed, in the south-west, has been thought to represent the survival
of very early traditions, some pre-Roman, some linked with the settlement of those who spoke
the Goedelic form of Celtic. Deheubarth was a general name for the whole of south Wales, but in
later centuries, certainly by the 11th century, it was a recognizable kingdom extending from
Ceredigion on the west coast to Brycheiniog on the English border. As Dyfed declined
Deheubarth absorbed parts of south-west Wales. In the 11th and 12th centuries, under pressure
of Norman attacks and settlement, that part of Deheubarth which remained independent grew
smaller.
In the ninth century the political order, which had emerged among the peoples west of Offas
Dyke, broke down. The ruling Dynasty of Dyfed-Deheubarth ran out in 814, that of Gwynedd in
825, and of Powys in 855. Into the vacuum stepped a new breed, the High Kings of all Wales. The
first of them took over all Wales outside Glywysing by 878; he fought Vikings and English and
although he was cut down in battle, he set a precedent and created a dynasty, grounded in
Gwynedd, which took all Wales as its patrimony. He was Rhodri Mawr, the only king in Welsh
history called Great. The second set up the dynasty in Dyfed-Deheubarth and by 950 ruled all
Wales outside Morgannwg. He presided over a great codification of the laws of Wales, which
henceforth bore his name. One Wales was to have one law. He was Hywel Dda the only king in
Welsh history to be called good.
It would be difficult to characterize these early ruling Welsh princes as a group, but certain
characteristics may be identified. They were, in general, rulers of a single kingdom. An
individual, who established his authority over several areas, or over Wales as a whole, was an
exceptional figure. The king was usually drawn from the royal kin, though some of the most
vigorous rulers were intruders. Even when these are taken into account, there was a clear
tendency to return to the ancient stock of the ruling dynasty. In early centuries much depended
on the reputation of an outstanding ruler.
From the 9th to 11th centuries, a threatening cloud lowered over Welsh and Saxon alike, in the
shape of the Vikings - insatiable in their lust for adventure, battle, and the spoils of war. These
warriors, who plundered not only the coastline but also deep inland, disrupting entire
communities, terrorized the shores of Britain. Some success was achieved against the raiders by
Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great), ruler of Gwynedd, who won a victory over the Danish in 856
but was eventually forced into exile in Ireland. It is surprising, therefore that, despite their
undoubted influence, apart from the place-names (such as Bardsey, Fishguard, Milford, Skomer,
Swansea), the Vikings have left little in the way of monuments in the landscape. Indeed, perhaps
the most notable signs are those upon the style of decoration used on the great crosses of the
10th and 11th centuries, like those at Carew (right) and Nevern.
The unity established by Rhodri Mawr in the 9th century was to prove short-lived. Aggravated
by Anglo-Saxon intervention and the Viking raids, the country remained politically feeble and
divided. Again, although his laws long outlived his death, the cohesiveness brought about by
Hywel Dda (Howell the Good), the grandson of Rhodri Mawr, was too fragile to extend beyond
the reign in which it was achieved.
One last powerful ruler managed to bring a measure of unity prior to the Norman Conquest.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, from his initial seizure of power in Gwynedd in 1039, became a dominant
figure in Wales. During the last eight years of his life (1055-63), he held the whole country under
his sway; a position founded on military might and personal dependence. Once again, though, his
downfall and death left a vacuum of authority and strength. Within a decade, the Welsh were
facing a new and very real threat, more powerful than anything they had ever faced before - the
Normans.
hereditary; it depended solely on his ability to win battles and so gain land, treasure, and slaves
to give his supporters. He was obliged to fight and keep fighting. If not, he would find himself out
of a job or deprived of his life, or both. Succession from father to son was never a forgone
conclusion. Any relative of the old king who could muster enough support could make a bid for
the throne. This helps to explain why the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms came and went so quickly. The
power of any kingdom over its neighbours was only as solid as the strength of its king in battle.
King Offa. Roughly speaking, the 7th century was the age of Northumbrian ascendance, with
Mercia playing second fiddle. In the 8th century these roles reversed. The most powerful and
well known of the Mercian kings was Offa, who ruled from 758-796. A successful warrior (which
is a given for anyone in those days who managed to hold onto power for so long), he defeated
kings in Sussex, Anglia, and Wessex, proclaiming himself King of the English.
Offa's Dyke. Offa caused to be built the earthwork that still bears his name, Offa's Dyke, which
stretches the 150 mile length of the Welsh border. Begun in the 780's, the purpose of the dyke
seems to have been as a fortified frontier barrier, much as Hadrian's Wall some six centuries
previous.
In most places the ditch was 25 feet from the bottom of the cut to the top of the bank, with wood
or stonewalling on top of that. The work involved has been compared to the building of the Great
Pyramid. This gives us some idea of the power wielded by Offa. It seems that the dyke was not
permanently manned, relying instead on the warning given by a series of beacons.
Foreign attack. The upper hand enjoyed by the Mercians did not long survive Offa's death. In
the 820's a series of victories by Egbert, king of Wessex, broke Mercian control in the south
east. The 9th century may well have turned into a struggle for the upper hand between Mercia
and Wessex if not for one thing; England was once again the subject of recurring raids from
across the seas. This time it was the Danes and Norwegians. The Danes attacked the east coast
of England, the Norwegians attacked the north by way of Ireland and Scotland.
The Danes. The Danes found rich pickings in the undefended monastic settlements on
Lindisfarne Island and Jarrow, in Northumbria, but they were not out solely for loot. The Danish
raids were partly a response to population pressures in their homeland; so they wanted new
lands to settle, not merely easy plunder. They made good use of fortified settlements as bases to
expand, and their use of helmets, shields, chain mail, and particularly the long handled battle axe,
meant they were better armed than most of their foes.
Towards the end of the 6th century the Angles and Saxons in eastern Britain began to entertain
designs on the western lands. The inability of the independent western peoples to unify against
this threat left the most powerful kingdom, Gwynedd, as the centre of cultural and political
resistance, a position it has retained until today. The weaker groups were unable to hold the
invaders and after the Battle of Dyrham, near Gloucester in 577, the Britons in Cornwall were
separated from those in Wales who became similarly cut off from their northern kin in Cumbria
after the Battle of Chester in 616.
Though still geographically in a state of change, Wales could now be said to exist. At this point,
the racial mix in Wales was probably little different from that to the east, where Saxon numbers
were small, but the peoples resistance to the Saxons held Wales together. The Welsh started to
refer to themselves as Cymry (fellow countrymen), not by the Saxon term used by
English-speakers today, which is generally thought to mean either foreigners or Romanised
people.
Wales, like England in the Dark Ages, was a land of multiple kingships. The rugged terrain, with
impenetrable mountain massifs and inhospitable upland ranges, broken by river valleys, did not
make for a unified control or a unified development. Natural defences did not mark the boundary
with England, and productive lowland areas as well as profitable upland pastures were open to
frequent attacks. Not until Offa of Mercia built his dyke in the second half of the 8th century
was there a definable frontier, and that was designed mainly to deter Welsh attacks and control
trade across the new border. It was much the longest as well as the most striking man-made
boundary in the whole of western medieval Europe, and clearly came to play an important role in
shaping the perception of the extent and identity of Wales. Small local communities
acknowledged a ruler whose principal function might seem at times to wage war on his
neighbours and to plunder their lands. In general, war made them defensive.
The principal divisions of Wales (right) were the four major kingdoms or principalities. Gwynedd
was based on the Snowdonia massif and on Anglesey. Powys stretched from the borders of
Mercia into central Wales. Dyfed, in the south-west, has been thought to represent the survival
of very early traditions, some pre-Roman, some linked with the settlement of those who spoke
the Goedelic form of Celtic. Deheubarth was a general name for the whole of south Wales, but in
later centuries, certainly by the 11th century, it was a recognizable kingdom extending from
Ceredigion on the west coast to Brycheiniog on the English border. As Dyfed declined
Deheubarth absorbed parts of south-west Wales. In the 11th and 12th centuries, under pressure
of Norman attacks and settlement, that part of Deheubarth which remained independent grew
smaller.
In the ninth century the political order, which had emerged among the peoples west of Offas
Dyke, broke down. The ruling Dynasty of Dyfed-Deheubarth ran out in 814, that of Gwynedd in
825, and of Powys in 855. Into the vacuum stepped a new breed, the High Kings of all Wales. The
first of them took over all Wales outside Glywysing by 878; he fought Vikings and English and
although he was cut down in battle, he set a precedent and created a dynasty, grounded in
Gwynedd, which took all Wales as its patrimony. He was Rhodri Mawr, the only king in Welsh
history called Great. The second set up the dynasty in Dyfed-Deheubarth and by 950 ruled all
Wales outside Morgannwg. He presided over a great codification of the laws of Wales, which
henceforth bore his name. One Wales was to have one law. He was Hywel Dda the only king in
Welsh history to be called good.
It would be difficult to characterize these early ruling Welsh princes as a group, but certain
characteristics may be identified. They were, in general, rulers of a single kingdom. An
individual, who established his authority over several areas, or over Wales as a whole, was an
exceptional figure. The king was usually drawn from the royal kin, though some of the most
vigorous rulers were intruders. Even when these are taken into account, there was a clear
tendency to return to the ancient stock of the ruling dynasty. In early centuries much depended
on the reputation of an outstanding ruler.
From the 9th to 11th centuries, a threatening cloud lowered over Welsh and Saxon alike, in the
shape of the Vikings - insatiable in their lust for adventure, battle, and the spoils of war. These
warriors, who plundered not only the coastline but also deep inland, disrupting entire
communities, terrorized the shores of Britain. Some success was achieved against the raiders by
Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great), ruler of Gwynedd, who won a victory over the Danish in 856
but was eventually forced into exile in Ireland. It is surprising, therefore that, despite their
undoubted influence, apart from the place-names (such as Bardsey, Fishguard, Milford, Skomer,
Swansea), the Vikings have left little in the way of monuments in the landscape. Indeed, perhaps
the most notable signs are those upon the style of decoration used on the great crosses of the
10th and 11th centuries, like those at Carew (right) and Nevern.
The unity established by Rhodri Mawr in the 9th century was to prove short-lived. Aggravated
by Anglo-Saxon intervention and the Viking raids, the country remained politically feeble and
divided. Again, although his laws long outlived his death, the cohesiveness brought about by
Hywel Dda (Howell the Good), the grandson of Rhodri Mawr, was too fragile to extend beyond
the reign in which it was achieved.
One last powerful ruler managed to bring a measure of unity prior to the Norman Conquest.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, from his initial seizure of power in Gwynedd in 1039, became a dominant
figure in Wales. During the last eight years of his life (1055-63), he held the whole country under
his sway; a position founded on military might and personal dependence. Once again, though, his
downfall and death left a vacuum of authority and strength. Within a decade, the Welsh were
facing a new and very real threat, more powerful than anything they had ever faced before - the
Normans.
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 defences. 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. 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
516: THE BATTLE OF MOUNT BADON
The "Annales Cambriae" (dating from 1100,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. 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,
Though the pagan Saxons settled much of Britain, 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). 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.
It is from this time that the Welsh word Llan appears, signifying a church settlement.
615The 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.
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 "Romanised." Today's Welsh call the English "Sais"
(Saxons).
664: THE DEATH OF CADWALADR
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. The people of Wales would have to wait for the Tudors to re-establish any claim
to the throne of Britain.
In 1485, Henry Tudor carried the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr in his defeat of Richard III.
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 defences. 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. 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
516: THE BATTLE OF MOUNT BADON
The "Annales Cambriae" (dating from 1100,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. 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,
Though the pagan Saxons settled much of Britain, 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). 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.
It is from this time that the Welsh word Llan appears, signifying a church settlement.
615The 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.
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 "Romanised." Today's Welsh call the English "Sais"
(Saxons).
664: THE DEATH OF CADWALADR
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. The people of Wales would have to wait for the Tudors to re-establish any claim
to the throne of Britain.
In 1485, Henry Tudor carried the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr in his defeat of Richard III.
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