1048 



WALDEX, SAFFRON. 



WALES. 



1050 



hi* subjects are Lutherans ; the rest are Roman Catholics, CalvinUta, 

 Jews, and Quakers. The budget for the financial interval, 1854-56, 

 estimates the annual revenue at 363,797 thaler*, the annual outlay at 

 373,653 thalers. The revenue of the prince is about 45,0002. sterling, 

 and the public debt about 180,0002. The prince is a member of the 

 Germanic Confederation, and has in the Diet, with Anhalt, Lippe, 

 Beau, Schworzburg, and Lichtenstein, a collective vote (the 16th), 

 and in the general assembly a separate vote. Ilia contingent is 519 

 men. The prince of Wuldeck granted a constitution to his subjects in 

 August IS JJ. 



WALUEN, SAFFRON". [EasEX.] 



WALDOBORO. [M*ra, U.S.] 



WALDSTADTER, and WALDSTADTER SEE. [LUCERNE ; 



SWITZERLAND.] 



WALES, a principality of Great Britain, lie? on the west side of 

 that island, between 51 20 7 and 53 25' N. lat, 2 41' and 4 56' 

 W. long. It is bounded W. and N. by St George's Channel ; E. by 

 the English counties of Cheater, Salop, Hereford, and Monmouth ; and 

 S. and S.K. by the Bristol Channel. IU greatest length from north to 

 south is about 180 miles, and its breadth from east to west varies 

 from to SO miles. It contains 4,793,975 statute acres, or 7393 

 square miles. The population of the principality in 1S41 was 911,705; 

 in 1851 it was 1,005,721. The general physical features of Wales are 

 given in detail in the article GREAT BIUTAIX. 



The history of the island of Great Britain previous to and during 

 the period of the Roman domination, is given in the article BRITANNIA; 

 and as there are no materials for a history of Wales during that period 

 distinct from the narrative of events in the island generally, we shall 

 refer to that article and to KSOLAKD, and proceed to give briefly the 

 principal events connected with Wales from the time of the establish- 

 ment of the Saxons, Angles, and other tribes in England, by which the 

 ancient inhabitants of the island were gradually driven to the west 



Down to the Roman conquest the Welsh, under a variety of prince*, 

 were engaged in almost constant warfare with the Saxons and Angles. 

 During the 6th and 7th centuries the country appears to have been 

 divided into a number of petty kingdoms or principalities. As many 

 as 14 co-existing kingdoms are mentioned. In the commencement of 

 the 7th century, Ethelfrith, king of Bernicia, and the grandson of Ida, 

 attacked the Welsh, assembled under lirochmael, king of Powys, and 

 gained a decisive victory. About the same time Ceolwalph, from 

 Wessex, prartratid into the province of Glamorgan ; but the inhabit- 

 ants, under Tewdric, their former king, drove the invaders across the 

 Severn. Edwin, sovereign of Deira and Bernioia, subdued Anglesey 

 and a considerable part of North Wales, and drove Cadwallon, the 

 sovereign of North Wales, and whoso father had been the protector of 

 Edwin in early life, into Ireland. Cadwallon defeated and slew Edwin 

 in 833, and penetrated into and desolated Northumbria. Successful 

 in 14 great battle* and 60 skirmishes, Cadwallon was regarded by the 

 Cymri or Welsh as the deliverer of their country, lie was however 

 slain, with the flower of his army, in an engagement with Oswald of 

 Northumbria, 



Ethelbald, king of Mercia, in the early part of the Sth century, 

 uniting with the king of Wessex, overpowered the Welsh. Dissensions 

 between Mercia and Wessex led to a successful confederation between 

 Boderio Molwynoc, the Welsh leader, and Cuthred, king of Wessex, 

 against the king of Mercia, whom they defeated at Hereford. Cuthrod 

 in turn took up arms against aud defeated the Welsh, and in 753 

 Ru'l ric Molwynoc withdrew into North Wale*. Towards the end of 

 the Sth century the Mercians succeeded in driving the Welsh from 

 the border territory, and Qua, king of Mercia. made an artificial 

 boundary from the mouth of the river Dee on the north to the river 

 Wye on the south, known by the name of Clawdd Ofla, or Ofla's Dyke, 

 traces of which are still to be found along a great part of the line. 

 Roderic, who had acquired the sovereignty of nearly all Wales, in 843 

 divided his dominions into three principalities, to which his thn.-e 

 sons succeeded. One of these principalities was called by the Welsh, 

 Qwynedd, and corresponded nearly to the present North Wales ; 

 another, Ceredigion and Dy ved, or South Wales ; and the third, Powys, 

 comprising part* of Montgomeryshire, Shropshire, and Radnorshire. 

 Early in the 10th century these three subdivisions of Wales became 

 reunited under the sceptre of one king, Howel, who was surnamed 

 Dda, the Good. He appears to have been an excellent king, and he 

 reformed and digested the laws of his country. At a subsequent 

 period Wales was divided into two principalities, North and South 

 Wales, but the former seems to hare bad some predominance over the 

 latter. During all these changrs, however, some districts appear to 

 have bad their separate petty princes. 



In the 10th century ft fine or annual tribute was imposed on the 

 Welsh by Athelstan, king of England, who had obtained the nominal 

 dominion of Wales. On the accession of William the Conqueror, the 

 Welsh refused to pay tribute. The Norman conqueror invaded their 

 country with a considerable army, reduced them to submission, and 

 compelled their princes to do homage and take an oath of allegiance 

 as his varaals, and from this period the English kings preferred a 

 claim to Wales as their dominion. During the reigns of his successors, 

 the Welsh constantly united with the disaffected barons, and com- 

 mitted devastations and outrages on the Knglish borders. William 

 and his son Lad granted to their Norman followers all lands they 



might acquire possession of in Wales, whence originated the Lords 

 Marchers. In 1102 Henry I. bestowed several other lordships and 

 castles in Wales on Englishmen and Normans ; aud for the purpose 

 of still further repressing the spirit of the Cambrians, he introduced, 

 in the year 1103, into Pembrokeshire, a numerous colony of Flemings. 

 The principality of South Wales was for a time destroyed ; Powya-land 

 was also possessed by the English ; and North Wales alone retained 

 its independence. 



In 1237 Gryffyth, the eldest son of Llewellyn-ap-Jorweth, prince of 

 North Wales, rebelling against his father, that prince applied for the 

 protection of Henry III. of England, which he received upon the 

 terms of yielding vassalage to the English crown. David, the eldest 

 son of Llewellyn, on the death of his father, renewed the homage to 

 England, and taking his brother Gryffyth prisoner, delivered him to 

 Henry, who imprisoned him in the Tower, where he lost his life in au 

 attempt to regain his freedom. After the death of Gryffyth, Henry 

 gave the principality of Wales to his eldest sou Edward, afterwards 

 Edward I. Llewellyn, the youngest son of Gryffyth, succeeded to the 

 throne of North Wales on the death of hit uncle David, and his brother 

 Owen Goch to that of South Wales. Humage was now enforced by 

 England as an established right. After the accession of Edward I. to 

 the English throne, the Welsh prince was summoned to do homage, 

 which he declined doing without having hostages for his safe conduct, 

 and demanded that his consort, who was Edward's prisoner, should bo 

 restored. This Edward refused to comply with, and immediately pro- 

 ceeded to levy war against him, assisted by David aud Roderic, brothers 

 of Llewellyn, who had dispossessed them of their inheritance. The 

 Welsh prince defended himself among the inaccessible mountains of 

 Caernarvonshire, but Edward blocked up Llewellyn and his army so 

 effectually, that after sustaining all the horrors of a siege they wero 

 obliged to yield to the wary Knglish king. Llewellyn shortly after- 

 wards rose against the English, and was joined by his brother David, 

 but Llewellyn was slain in or immediately after an engagement with 

 the Earl of Mortimer near Builth, in Brecknockshire, in 1284. David, 

 who succeeded him in the principality, was soon after executed at 

 Shrewsbury as a traitor for defending by arms the liberties of his 

 native country and hia own hereditary authority. The nobility of 

 Wale* submitted to the conqueror, and by the statute of Rhud.il in, 

 passed in the 12th year of Edward's reign, Wales was incorporated 

 and united with England. 



Thin ended the existence of the Welsh as an independent nation. 

 The title of Prince of Wales was bestowed by Edward upon his son, 

 afterwards Edward II., and has ever since been the title conferred on 

 the eldest son of the sovereign of England. 



In 1295 insurrections broke out in various parts of Wales, but 

 they were everywhere suppressed, and to prevent their recurrence 

 Edward built castles at Rbuddlan, Conway, Beaumaris, Caernarvon, 

 Harlech. and Aberystwith. The last effort by the Welsh to maintain 

 an independent existence was under Owen Glyndwr, in the comim-iuv- 

 ment of the 15th century. His career aud brilliant success in opposing 

 the English army are intimately connected with English hist u-y. 



By the statute of Rhuddlan (12 Edward I., c. 5) a part of Wales was 

 formed into the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, Merioneth, aud 

 Flint; and by a statute passed in the 27th year of the reign of 

 Henry VIII., the counties of Moumoutb, Brecknock, Radnor, Mont- 

 gomery, and Denbigh were constituted ; and by this statute one knight 

 was directed to be chosen for each county in Wales, aud a burgess 

 for every borough being a county town, except the county town of 

 Merioneth, and a member was subsequently given to Haverfordwest. 

 By the Reform Act an additional member was given to the counties of 

 Cacrmarthen, Denbigh, and Glamorgan; a member was given to 

 Merthyr Tydvil, and one to Swansea, and numerous places were made 

 contributory boroughs to each of the ancient boroughs returning 

 members. 



The laws and chief features of the constitution of the Britons when 

 masters of the whole island seem to have been preserved iu Wales for 

 a considerable time ; many of them indeed remained iu full force until 

 their abolition or alteration by express statutes at a comparatively 

 recent |>criod. The government from the earliest period appears to 

 have been monarchical, but not following a strict rule of descent. Au 

 old code of laws compiled from those of Howel Dda states that no 

 one U an " edliug (heir to the throne) except that person to whom the 

 king shall give hope of succession and designation." No power but 

 the regal could either enact or abrogate a law. Traces of a popular 

 representation are to be found iu the formation of the digest of the 

 Welsh laws by Howel Dda, in the 10th century. For this purpose six 

 of the most intelligent and powerful persons were summoned out of 

 every cyinwd, or hundred, and also the nobles, bishops, aud principal 

 clergy, to assist that king in the great work of legislation. By these 

 means the ancient laws were revised, others enacted, and all digested 

 into one regular code, and a declaration made that they should not 

 be altered, except by means of a similar national council. After the 

 English conquest, and in consequence of the subsequent insurrections, 

 several severe laws were passed against the Welsh, but these were 

 gradually repealed or fell into abeyance ; and the laws of Wales 

 steadily approximated to those of England, until they became sub- 

 stantially the same. Since the passing of the llth Geo. IV. and 1st 

 Win. IV., c. 70, Wales has no jurisdiction iu legal matters distinct 



