Welsh Journals

WALES AND ENGLAND ANTIPATHY AND SYMPATHY 1282-1485 (This article was originally delivered as a lecture by the late Professor Glyn Roberts to the Anglo-American Conference of Historians in July 1961. He had intended substantially to expand the original text for publication and had completed revision of about three-quarters of it; he was, in fact, working at it on the very day he died. After Professor Roberts's death, his colleague, Mr. J. Gwynn Williams, kindly agreed to edit the manuscript and prepare it for publication. He very properly decided that he must stick as closely as possible to Professor Roberts's text. The point at which the revised version broke off is indicated by a row of asterisks. Thereafter, the text of the original lecture, with one or two very minor emendations, has been published. It was clear that Professor Roberts had not had time to prepare a full apparatus criticus and had done no more than jot down a few abbreviated references for his own convenience. These have been given in full by Mr. Williams, and a few others have been added wherever a sufficiently clear lead was given in Professor Roberts's notes. But it will be realized that the references could, regrettably, not be provided as fully as they would have been if Professor Roberts had been given the opportunity of completing his revision. ED.) IT would be unjust, and misleading, to assert that Wales enjoys the luxury of having lost the last remnants of its political independence as long ago as the year 1282. But it is at least possible that the fact of conquest sometimes tempts us to read our history through spectacles which are coloured by emotions engendered by contempla- tion of our hard fate. It is tempting, and basically correct, to think of ourselves as a people, small in numbers, who succeeded before the Norman Conquest of England in retaining a form of political independence and a culture and a language of our own. A number of small independent kingdoms, usually engaged in internecine war, at least managed to retain their geographical independence from Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex; and if the problem of political unity was never permanently solved, there was at least a cultural unity, based on a long tradition, which to some extent took the place of that process of political coalescence which is such a remarkable feature of English history in the same period. We can justly point to a great intensification of the pressure on our political structure after 1066, for within less than 100 years there was established a great sweep of Anglo-Norman lordships extending from Chester in the north, along the border to Monmouth, Glamorgan, and Pembroke, in the south. The ill-famed Marcher lordships had appeared on the stage of our history. In and around this area, Welsh lords, descended from the numerous Welsh kingly houses, managed to retain some remnants of territory and royal power. The fortunes of the greater Welsh lords of Powys, Deheubarth, and Gwynedd fluctuated widely according to the pressures to which they were subjected, and to their