History UsefulNotes / Wales

Because of the continuty of the Welsh with earlier Brittonic peoples (see UsefulNotes/{{CelticKingdoms}}) as a distinct entity doesn't have a clear starting point. However, by the late [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]] there would have been a distinct sense of the Welsh being a people in their own right, speaking a different language to the English. Myth/WelshMythology has its origins in this period, and the conflict with the Anglo-Saxons (i.e. the English) often features prominently in Welsh legend, particularly in those concerning Myth/KingArthur - the oldest in any language and generally agreed to be the origin of that particular figure - whom in Welsh legend is a hero who successfully resists the Anglo-Saxon invasion - at least for a while.

In [[AncientRome Roman times]], the whole of Great Britain was inhabited by various Celtic societies. During the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], the Germanic UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons invaded and took over most of the island, but one of the parts they didn't initially take over was the little corner we now call UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}.[[note]]The others were UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} and Cumbria.[[/note]] Wales was conquered by the English in The Middle Ages and became legally a part of the Kingdom of England -- which is why there's no "Welsh Bit" of the Union Jack, which was formed from the flags of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and, later, Ireland. Being conquered and repressed has given Wales both a strong sense of identity and the mother of all chips on shoulders. [[BerserkButton Do not call Welsh people "English"]]; it will cause immediate and lasting discomfort (ditto for UsefulNotes/{{Scot|land}}tish and UsefulNotes/{{Ir|eland}}ish people).

* Creator/TerryNation, screenwriter who created the Daleks for ''Series/DoctorWho'' and the shows ''Series/{{Survivors}}'' and ''Series/BlakesSeven''.

* Creator/TaronEgerton.

* Creator/EveMyles

** UsefulNotes/JamesCallaghan, though he didn't come from Wales, held a seat in Cardiff.

* Creator/RussellTDavies.

Because of the continuty of the Welsh with earlier Brittonic peoples (see UsefulNotes/{{CelticKingdoms}}) as a distinct entity doesn't have a clear starting point. However, by the late [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]] there would have been a distinct sense of the Welsh being a people in their own right, speaking a different language to the English. Myth/WelshMythology has its origins in this period, and the conflict with the Anglo-Saxons (i.e. the English) often features prominently in Welsh legend, particularly in those concerning KingArthur - the oldest in any language and generally agreed to be the origin of that particular figure - whom in Welsh legend is a hero who successfully resists the Anglo-Saxon invasion - at least for a while.

Because of the continuty of the Welsh with earlier Brittonic peoples (see UsefulNotes/{{CelticKingdoms}}) as a distinct entity doesn't have a clear starting point. However, by the late [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]] there would have been a distinct sense of the Welsh being a people in their own right, speaking a different language to the English. Welsh Mythology has it's origins in this period, and the conflict with the Anglo-Saxons (i.e. the English) often features prominently in Welsh legend, particularly in those concerning KingArthur - the oldest in any language and generally agreed to be the origin of that particular figure - whom in Welsh legend is a hero who successfully resists the Anglo-Saxon invasion - at least for a while.

The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the Middle Ages right up until the 1960s, but survived better than its Celtic cousins, perhaps because of the relative peace and stability of Wales and the lack of crises equivalent to the Irish Potato Famine or the Highland Clearances. Welsh began to decline relatively duringthe nineteenth century, falling under 50% of the population by 1911. Although this decline continued during the 20th century, revival efforts and political nationalism beginning in the 1960s have stablised the proportion at around 20% of the population, with hundreds of thousands using the language every day.

* ''The Owl Service'' by Creator/AlanGarner is set in Wales, based on themes from the Mabinogion.

* Aimee-Ffion Edwards, an actress perhaps best known for playing Esme Shelby on ''Series/PeakyBlinders''.

Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' (as North Walians are referred to in the South[[note]]Southerners are referred to as 'hwntws', that being everyone born on the 'wrong' (south) side of Cader Idris is a 'hwntw'[[/note]]) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all road signs and official notices have to be in both. (East of Conwy, English is given precedence. West of Conwy, Welsh comes first. Welsh language road signage generally begins at the border: visitors are often consternated that Welsh signage begins even before you have left Chester, largely because Saltney, although part of the city of Chester, lies within Wales. (Big supermarkets in Oswestry, nominally inside England, have bilingual signage.)) The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection".[[note]]To be fair, the Dutch say the same thing about their own language.[[/note]] Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humour, often being decried for a lack of vowels[[note]]It helps to understand that Y and W are vowels in Welsh]] compared to anagrams of breakfast cereal names, some form of encrypted message used by intelligence agents, or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.

In [[AncientRome Roman times]], the whole of Great Britain was inhabited by various Celtic societies. During the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], the Germanic UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons invaded and took over most of the island, but one of the parts they didn't take over was the little corner we now call UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}.[[note]]The others were UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} and Cumbria.[[/note]] Wales was conquered by the English in The Middle Ages and became legally a part of the Kingdom of England -- which is why there's no "Welsh Bit" of the Union Jack, which was formed from the flags of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and, later, Ireland. Being conquered and repressed has given Wales both a strong sense of identity and the mother of all chips on shoulders. [[BerserkButton Do not call Welsh people "English"]]; it will cause immediate and lasting discomfort (ditto for UsefulNotes/{{Scot|land}}tish and UsefulNotes/{{Ir|eland}}ish people).

In [[AncientRome Roman times]], the whole of Great Britain was inhabited by a Celtic population. During the [[DarkAgeEurope Dark Ages]], the Germanic UsefulNotes/AngloSaxons invaded and took over most of the island, but one of the parts they didn't take over was the little corner we now call UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}.[[note]]The others were UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} and Cumbria.[[/note]] Wales was conquered by the English in The Middle Ages and became legally a part of the Kingdom of England -- which is why there's no "Welsh Bit" of the Union Jack, which was formed from the flags of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and, later, Ireland. Being conquered and repressed has given Wales both a strong sense of identity and the mother of all chips on shoulders. [[BerserkButton Do not call Welsh people "English"]]; it will cause immediate and lasting discomfort (ditto for UsefulNotes/{{Scot|land}}tish and UsefulNotes/{{Ir|eland}}ish people).

Much like Ireland, for much of its history Wales was fractured into numerous minor kingdoms ruled by individual houses, whose leaders were usually identified by the Welsh word ''Tywysog'' which is usually translated into English as Prince; the terms are not really equivalent though and Welsh Princes should not be understood as being subordinate to a King in the way we would understand a Prince to be in English[[note]]The democratically elected Irish president is known as a ''Toaiseach'', a term with a common origin.[[/note]]. Only occasionally were these various small kingdoms ever politically united, and rarely for long; on these occasions the successful ruler might claim the title ''Tywysog Cymru'' i.e. Prince of Wales, a title now given to the heir to the English throne (long story). By a quirk of Welsh legal tradition all sons would inherit equal portions of their father's estate, rather than the eldest and designated heir getting everything: this made it very difficult to establish lasting political dynasties because things would simply fracture again as soon as the ''Tywysog'' died.

Unfortunately, the happy marriage was the downfall of the royal house. Eleanor died shortly after [[DeathByChildbirth giving birth]] to Princess Gwenllian, Llywelyn's only child, in June 1282. Llywelyn was frankly distraught by her death. In this state, the prince's conniving half-brother Dafydd was able to persuade him to once again take up arms against the English. On December 11, 1282, Llywelyn was lured into a trap and killed, possibly (nobody knows for sure) thanks to Dafydd double-crossing him. Dafydd claimed guardianship of Gwenllian, who was now the rightful Princess of Wales - the first and only woman to be born to that title - and took her and his own children into hiding in a bog in northern Wales. They were captured there in June 1283 and taken to England, where Dafydd eventually [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves became the first man in recorded history to be]] [[LaserGuidedKarma hanged, drawn, and quartered]]. His sons were imprisoned, and his daughters and the infant Gwenllian were handed over to various convents and raised to become nuns in order to end the Welsh royal line. Llywelyn's body was never recovered, but his countrymen eventually gave him a memorial stone which calls him "our last prince/our last leader." His daughter, who died in the Sempringham Priory in Lincolnshire in 1337, is memorialized with a plaque at the summit of Mount Snowdon (one of Llywelyn's titles was "Lord of Snowdonia"), and they both have mountains named after them in the region.

Although long treated as a separate nation to England for cultural purposes, Wales was still part of England for legal purposes until 1967.[[note]]To this day, most laws refer to "England and Wales", and the two share most procedure, in stark contrast to Scotland where the legal system works rather differently.[[/note]] It was not until 1972 that its borders were clarified. [[AliensInCardiff Cardiff]] (''Caerdydd'') had been proclaimed the capital of Wales in 1955. This was mostly because it was Wales' largest city; there was no government based there at the time, and pre-conquest Wales never really had a fixed capital. Since 1999 Wales now has a devolved assembly based there, albeit one with less power than the Scottish Parliament. This reflects the overall state of Welsh affairs at the moment. Although Welsh is by far the healthiest modern Celtic language and Welsh identity is widespread and firm, the vast majority of Welsh are, all things considered, quite comfortable being British (not English, of course--''British''), and are certainly nowhere nearly as interested in independence as the Scots. Some have even noted a reluctance on the part of the Welsh Assembly itself to ask for more power from Westminster (in contrast to the Scottish Parliament, which even under the Scottish-Unionist Labour/Lib Dem coalition clearly wanted a bit more authority for itself).

The Welsh language is a Celtic tongue that predates the Roman conquest. It is closely related to Breton and Cornish (spoken in the northwestern French province of Brittany and UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}}, respectively, with all three making up the Brittonic or Brythonic subfamily), and more distantly related to the Goidelic Celtic languages - Scottish Gaelic, a surviving native language of Scotland; Irish, the native language of Ireland; and Manx, spoken on the Isle of Man.

The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the Middle Ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidized minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' (as North Walians are referred to in the South[[note]]Southerners are referred to as 'hwntws', that being everyone born on the 'wrong' (south) side of Cader Idris is a 'hwntw'[[/note]]) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all road signs and official notices have to be in both. (East of Conwy, English is given precedence. West of Conwy, Welsh comes first. Welsh language road signage generally begins at the border: visitors are often consternated that Welsh signage begins even before you have left Chester, largely because Saltney, although part of the city of Chester, lies within Wales. (Big supermarkets in Oswestry, nominally inside England, have bilingual signage.)) The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection".[[note]]To be fair, the Dutch say the same thing about their own language.[[/note]] Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humour, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names, some form of encrypted message used by intelligence agents, or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.

The heavily industrial economy ensured that Welsh politics have always favoured the left. This has continued after the industry declined, as UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher is often blamed for the post-industrial misfortunes of regions like "The Valleys" (to the north of Cardiff). In 1997 and 2001, the Conservatives failed to win a single Welsh seat, although they have since made some inroads. Wales also has its own secessionist party ''Plaid Cymru'' ("Party of Wales"), who tend to have the most support in the rural areas.

Much like Ireland, Wales was initially separated into distinct regions ruled by individual houses, whose leaders were identified as kings or princes. Llywelyn the Great, King of Gwynedd, eventually united all of Wales and ruled as ''Tywysog y Cymru'' - Prince of Wales - for 45 years. He was married to Joan, a daughter of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet King John of England]], and had several children, both with her and with mistresses. After his death in 1240, however, his son Dafydd could only inherit part of his father's holdings, and Dafydd's half-brother Gruffudd was supposed to be given lands to rule but was not allowed to be prince at all. (Welsh tradition recognized the eldest son as the eldest son regardless of whether or not he was legitimate, and by the laws of the land the title should have gone to Gruffudd, who was the eldest; the Pope, however, had objections to this because he was illegitimate.) Eventually, Gruffudd was made a prisoner of the English king and died trying to escape; Dafydd, meanwhile, died with only illegitimate minor children, and his lands and titles passed instead to his nephew Llywelyn, son of Gruffudd, who was both an adult and legitimate.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, also known in Wales as Llywelyn the Last, was a ruler much like his namesake grandfather and reclaimed the title of Prince of Wales. Edward I nevertheless managed to annex the realm as a principality of England, but in a rare display of benevolence, "Longshanks" agreed to let Llywelyn keep his title in exchange for recognizing English sovereignty. Llywelyn was effectively a vassal to the English throne, much as Alexander was in Scotland at the same time, and things were more or less peaceful. Edward also sanctioned the marriage of Llywelyn to Eleanor de Montfort, a granddaughter of King John, in what is believed to have been a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage; Llywelyn is not recorded to have ever had a mistress or sired any illegitimate offspring, which was very unusual for the Welsh nobility.

* Creator/PhilipMadoc, character actor known for numerous guest appearances in popular British shows like Series/DoctorWho and Series/DadsArmy.

* Comedians Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones and Rhod Gilbert.[[/index]]

''Cymru'', the land of the Welsh Dragon, Music/TomJones, the revival of ''Series/DoctorWho'', ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of Creator/TheBBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programs.

Welsh is generally regarded by English-speakers as a formidably difficult language, and a glance at the map shows such jaw-crackers as Machynlleth, Pwllheli, and the truly majestic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch]]. As a result, Welsh speakers tend to find it absolutely hilarious when non-Welsh speakers try to pronounce Welsh words and names. That said, the pronunciation rules are consistent (unlike English) and once you know that a "u" is pronounced "ee"; "dd" is a soft "th" (as in 'there' rather than 'think') ; and a "ll" is a sort-of cross between 'l' and 'th', then it will always be so, although the actual spelling (and hence pronunciation) of a word may change depending on the word preceding it. "Cwm", that perennial favorite of crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, is pronounced "coom" (and means "a hollow in the side of a mountain"). Welsh vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'w', and 'y') have two distinct pronunciations: one long, one short. For example, 'mẁg' (with a vowel sound like the one in 'book') and mwg (vowel sound like in 'pool'). In addition there are two variations of "y", which can be heard in "yn" (like 'un-' as in 'unhealthy') and "byd" (like 'bead') (obscure and clear sounds, respectively). Welsh English often [[LikeIsLikeAComma uses "like"]] as an interjection, but [[RealityIsUnrealistic contrary to stereotypes]] [[TheCoconutEffect the word 'boyo' is practically nonexistent.]]

The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the Middle Ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidized minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' (as North Walians are referred to in the South[[note]]Southerners are referred to as 'hwntws', that being everyone born on the 'wrong' (south) side of Cader Idris is a 'hwntw'[[/note]]) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all road signs and official notices have to be in both. (East of Conwy, English is given precedence. West of Conwy, Welsh comes first. Welsh language road signage generally begins at the border: visitors are often consternated that Welsh signage begins even before you have left Chester, largely because Saltney, although part of the city of Chester, lies within Wales. (Big supermarkets in Oswestry, nominally inside England, have bilingual signage.)) The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection".[[note]]To be fair, the Dutch say the same thing about their own language.[[/note]] Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humor, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names, some form of encrypted message used by intelligence agents, or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.

->The flag's white and green halves recall the colors of the House of Tudor, itself a Welsh family; at the center is the Welsh Dragon ("Y Ddraig Goch", or "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Red Dragon]]" in Welsh), said to have been the standard of Myth/KingArthur and other Celtic warlords.

''Cymru'', the land of the Welsh Dragon, Music/TomJones, Revived!''Series/DoctorWho'', ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and the rest of Creator/TheBBC Sci-fi/fantasy TV programs.

Welsh is generally regarded by English-speakers as a formidably difficult language, and a glance at the map shows such jaw-crackers as Machynlleth, Pwllheli, and the truly majestic [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch]]. As a result, Welsh speakers tend to find it absolutely hilarious when non-Welsh speakers try to pronounce Welsh words and names. That said, the pronunciation rules are consistent (unlike English) and once you know that a "u" is pronounced "ee"; "dd" is a hard "th" (as in 'there' rather than 'think') ; and a "ll" is a sort-of cross between 'l' and 'th', then it will always be so, although the actual spelling (and hence pronunciation) of a word may change depending on the word preceding it. "Cwm", that perennial favorite of crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, is pronounced "coom" (and means "a hollow in the side of a mountain"). Welsh vowels ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'w', and 'y') have two distinct pronunciations: one long, one short. For example, 'mẁg' (with a vowel sound like the one in 'book') and mwg (vowel sound like in 'pool'). In addition there are two variations of "y", which can be heard in "yn" (like 'un-' as in 'unhealthy') and "byd" (like 'bead') (obscure and clear sounds, respectively). Welsh English often [[LikeIsLikeAComma uses "like"]] as an interjection, but [[RealityIsUnrealistic contrary to stereotypes]] [[TheCoconutEffect the word 'boyo' is practically nonexistent.]]

* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}, a SpinOff of ''Series/DoctorWho'', is set in Cardiff for its first two series, and regular characters Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones are both Welsh.

* ''Series/Torchwood'', a SpinOff of ''Series/DoctorWho'', is set in Cardiff for its first two series,

Wales is notable for its sheep population -- c. 10.9 million of them against a human population of about three million. So, the [[BestialityIsDepraved usual jokes]] apply. Wales is also notable for its level of rainfall -- even more so than [[UsefulNotes/BritishWeather the UK as a whole]]. Second city Swansea (''Abertawe'') officially holds the distinction of "wettest city in Britain".

* Bertrand Russell, the philosopher and mathematician, was born at Trellech in Monmouthshire and died almost one hundred years later at Penrhyndeudraeth.

The nobles of Wales insisted that Edward I give them a prince who spoke no English and was born on Welsh soil. He invoked some clever LoopholeAbuse by presenting his own infant son, the future Edward II, who had recently been born in Caernarfon Castle; he thus spoke no English (nor any other language) and had indeed been born on Welsh soil. Ever since, with only a handful of exceptions, the heir apparent to the British crown has been called the Prince of Wales.[[note]]If the heir apparent is female, however, she is ''not'' called the Princess of Wales. That has been reduced to a mere courtesy title given to the wife of a sitting Prince of Wales.[[/note]]

The Welsh language was suppressed with varying degrees of viciousness by the English from the Middle Ages right up until the 1960s, but since then it has become one of the best-subsidized minority languages in the world, and nowadays around 20% of Welsh people can speak some Welsh, with 14% claiming to use it on a daily basis. Northern and Southern versions differ in details, and 'gogs' (as North Walians are referred to in the South[[note]]Southerners are referred to as 'hwntws', that being everyone born on the 'wrong' (south) side of Cader Idris is a 'hwntw'[[/note]]) are sometimes said to sound like Russian porn stars. Welsh is accorded equal status with English within Wales, so all roadsigns and official notices have to be in both. (East of Conwy, English is given precedence. West of Conwy, Welsh comes first. Welsh language roadsignage generally begins at the border: visitors are often consternated that Welsh signage begins even before you have left Chester, largely because Saltney, although part of the city of Chester, lies within Wales. (Big supermarkets in Oswestry, nominally inside England, have bilingual signage.)) The language is the butt of many jokes in England, usually along the lines of "Welsh is very difficult to speak unless you have either a lifetime's study, or a serious throat infection".[[note]]To be fair, the Dutch say the same thing about their own language.[[/note]] Welsh spellings are also the subject of English humor, sometimes being attributed either to anagrams of breakfast cereal names, some form of encrypted message used by intelligence agents, or escapees from Creator/HPLovecraft's less well-known works.

There is also a community of Welsh-speakers in Argentina, dating back to the 19th century, and Welsh is spoken in Patagonia, albeit with a Spanish accent.

Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed."''[[note]]''The land of my fathers is dear to me, / Old land where the bards are honoured and free; / Its warring defenders so gallant and brave, / For freedom their life's blood they gave.'' -- but this translation isn't literal and so is actually possible to sing. The more literal version is impossible to sing to the same rhythm.[[/note]]

Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed."''[[note]]''The land of my fathers is dear to me, / Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free; / Its warring defenders so gallant and brave, / For freedom their life's blood they gave.'' -- but this translation isn't literal and so is actually possible to sing. The more literal version is impossible to sing to the same rhythm.[[/note]]

Unfortunately, the happy marriage was the downfall of the royal house. Eleanor died shortly after [[DeathByChildbirth giving birth]] to Princess Gwenllian, Llywelyn's only child, in June 1282. Llywelyn was frankly distraught by her death. In this state, the prince's conniving half-brother Dafydd was able to persuade him to once again take up arms against the English. On December 11, 1282, Llywelyn was lured into a trap and killed, possibly (nobody knows for sure) thanks to Dafydd double-crossing him. Dafydd claimed guardianship of Gwenllian, who was now the rightful Princess of Wales - the first and only woman to be born to that title - and took her and his own children into hiding in a bog in northern Wales. They were captured there in June 1283 and taken to England, where Dafydd eventually [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves became the first man in recorded history to be hanged, drawn, and quartered]]. His sons were imprisoned, and his daughters and the infant Gwenllian were handed over to various convents and raised to become nuns in order to end the Welsh royal line. Llywelyn's body was never recovered, but his countrymen eventually gave him a memorial stone which calls him "our last prince/our last leader." His daughter, who died in the Sempringham Priory in Lincolnshire in 1337, is memorialized with a plaque at the summit of Mount Snowdon (one of Llywelyn's titles was "Lord of Snowdonia"), and they both have mountains named after them in the region.