To what extent did the Welsh regard themselves and British and why?

        The effects of the Act of Union of 1536 on the Britishness felt by the Welsh is extremely significant, and shows that despite the differences between the two nations, that sense of Britishness was realisable. The events of the Act of Union show that the Welsh did regard themselves to some extent as British, or that engaging with England to a greater degree was at least viewed as practically beneficial by the Welsh gentry above all. Indeed, although the Act of Union was passed by a Parliament in which there were no elected representatives from Wales, it was passed on petitions by English officials in Wales and more importantly, Welsh landowners for administrative reform that had been made since the early 1530’s.  The fact that Welsh landowners were desirous of greater union with Britain, as they actively petitioned for it, shows that the Welsh regarded themselves as British to some extent, as they were willing to associate themselves with the Kingdom of England, or at the very least the benefits to the Welsh gentry were greater than the undesirability of becoming part of a union with Britain.

        Rather than merely accepting the union with Britain however, the Welsh gentry actually welcomed the replacement of traditional Welsh systems of law, land ownership and religion. The adoption of English practices in Wales was of considerable benefit to the Welsh gentry, as it enabled them to increase their power in Wales, as it clarified their ownership of the land, and the adoption of English legal practices speeded up the speed with which disputes could be solved. The gentry became increasingly to regard themselves as British due to their increased status in Wales. This was considerably helped by the decline of the great Welsh magnates, part of the general assertion of monarchical power of the Tudor period. For example, Edward Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham was executed in 1521 for having prophesied the ending of the Tudor dynasty.  This lack of great magnates caused the Welsh gentry to regard themselves as increasingly British, as it would be they who would administer Wales in the name of the king after the Tudor Reforms.

The reforms that Henry VIII put in place in Wales as part of his Tudor Revolution increased the extent to which the Welsh regarded themselves as British, because both Britain and Wales now shared a common system of authority, a common legal system and land laws, and both England and Wales now shared the “singular zeal, love and favour” of the king. Under the Act of Union of 1536, the disparity between the two systems of law in Wales was ended. The laws of the statute of Rhuddlan in the Principality, and the laws of the March in the lowlands were replaced by the conversion of both of these systems into shires. The existence of two legal codes and systems of administration had been a considerable drawback for the Welsh gentry as it had limited the opportunities to participate in government service. The gentry were further limited by the Welsh customs of collective ownership and partible inheritance which made the land holdings that characterized the gentry vulnerable. The ending of these practices when English Common law was introduced was therefore not seen as the erosion of Welsh customs through English imperialism, but was perceived instead as the granting of privileges previously reserved for English subjects to Wales. In this way, it is possible to see that the Welsh gentry regarded themselves as profiting from English law, and therefore began to see themselves as part of a British identity in which they were the equals of the English.

The extent to which the Welsh regarded themselves as British was also increased during the period of Tudor rule due to the fact that the Welsh viewed Henry VIII not as simply an English king, but rather as a British king. This suggests that the Welsh did consider themselves to be part of a British people governed by an English king. Henry’s somewhat tenuous claim to be of Welsh descent was enthusiastically received in Wales. The idea that the Tudor dynasty were descended from Owain Tudor, coupled with the newly shared systems of administration and justice meant that for the Welsh, the installation of a Tudor on the English throne represented the renewal of an ancient British monarchy. This idea of British kingship was cultivated by Henry VIII through the displaying of the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr on the royal arms and coinage, and through the naming of his heir Arthur, a British hero.

        The union between the Kingdom of England and Wales, and the establishment of shires to replace the confusion of jurisdictions that had previously existed in Wales did not mean however that the Welsh regarded themselves as exclusively British. Politically, Wales was still distinct in certain respects from the rest of the English realm and these political differences show that although a sense of Britishness amongst the Welsh had started to become more prevalent, it was not entirely so. Many obviously Welsh communities which were Welsh-speaking were attached to English shires, and the boundaries of the marcher shires were rather arbitratrily drawn through the reallotment of hundreds.

        Although Wales retained its own specific character and remained heterogeneous in some ways to England, overall, the period after the Tudor Reforms in Wales mark a period in which Wales and England came to interact in an increasingly British way. For example, the presence of Welshmen at court and in Parliament, served to increase the degree to which the Welsh considered themselves as British, as it gave them an influence over the rest of the realm. The lack of a ‘Welsh party’ in parliament is a good example of how the Welsh felt increasingly British due to their involvement in political life. For example, one of Elizabeth I’s most important advisors, Burghley, was of Welsh descent, as was Blanche Parry, who was the queen’s gentlewoman.

        As a result of the greater extent to which Welsh people could participate in court life and in Parliament, many Welsh people moved to London. The fact that Welsh people would move to London to be closer to the centre of the administration shows that the Welsh felt themselves to be increasingly British as they were now part of the ruling class of England. As a result of mercantile activities, there came to be an increasingly large Welsh community known as the London-Welsh. The name London-Welsh is significant, as it shows the identities of being British and Welsh to be tenable together. This is eloquently shown in the example of Rowland Dee, a gentleman server to Henry VIII who lived in London, thought himself to be a member of the “Anglo-Welsh intelligentsia” and kept a library of Welsh books in London.

        The role of Welsh language in shaping both Welsh and British identities is an important part of the creation of the British-Welsh identity. Whatever British affiliations the Welsh gentry or Welshmen at court might feel, the fact remained that during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that 90% of people in the traditional Welsh counties would have spoken Welsh, and some in the English border counties. As Phillip Jenkins points out “ethnic self-recognition provided the basis for some kind of national awareness” . The extent to which the Welsh thought of themselves as British must be brought into doubt by the large body of Welsh-language literature that existed by the seventeenth century. The publication of the New Testament in Welsh and the Prayer Book in 1567 marks the start of this growth of Welsh literarture, which would later grow into Welsh histories that would use synonymously the terms ‘Welsh’ and ‘British’, not to indicate the bonds and shared identities of the two countries, but rather the means by which Britain had been lost to the English. In this respect, the by the mid seventeenth-century, some Welsh began to see them selves as British, but meant this in opposition to the English.

        In conclusion, the extent to which Welsh people regarded themselves as British varied greatly, as did the meaning of the term British. The Welsh gentry were initially happy to, and did, regard themselves as British to further their own interests, and to become engaged in the political life of the court to which they were joined before the Act of Union. However, this sense of Britishness meaning involving and adopting English ways was not the only way people regarded themselves as Welsh. The regeneration of the Welsh language shown by the publication of the Bible in Welsh allowed a new type of Welsh-Britishness, for example David Powel’s The Historie of Cambria which equated Britishness with Welshness in contrast to the English. It must also be said that for many, regional and indeed local identities were more significant, as there did not exist the scope for wider identities. This is shown in the continuation in Snowdonia of near pagan rituals, where people would listen to harpers and minstrels singing songs of heroic deeds against the English.

Word Count: 2004

Bibliography:

Bradshaw, B and Morrill, J. The British Problem c. 1534-1707 State Formation in the Atlantic Archipelago (1996)

Bradshaw, B and Roberts, P British Consciousness and Identity.(1998)

Williams, G. Renewal and Reformation Wales (1987)

Elton, G. R. England under the Tudors (1974)