Theosophy Wales, UK:- Pages About Wales. Llywelyn Mawr (the Great). Llwelyn ap Gruffudd (the Last)

PAGES ABOUT

Wales is a Principality within the United Kingdom and has an eastern border with England. The land area is just over 8,000 square miles. Snowdon is the highest mountain at 3,650 feet. The coastline is almost 750 miles long. The population of Wales as at the 2001 census is 2,946,200.

Theosophy Wales is pleased to present

general pages about Wales, Welsh History

and The History of Theosophy in Wales

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Llywelyn Mawr (The Great)

Llwelyn ap Gruffudd (The Last)

Pura Wallia (Independent Wales) &

Marchia Wallia (Lands ruled by the Marcher Lords)

In the 13^th Century an area of Wales functioned

as an independent Welsh State

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Pura Walia (Independent Wales)

Marchia Wallia (Lands rules by the Marcher barons)

Buellt and Cardigan were gained by Llywelyn in 1234

Llywelyn the Great , prince of Gwynedd used marriage as a means of building alliances with Marcher lords. His daughter, Helen, married John, earl of Chester. His son, Dafydd, married Isabella, the daughter of William de Braose, lord of Brecon, Builth & Abergavenny.

At that time of the Norman conquest in 1066 Wales was in political turmoil, with several warlords fighting for control. William exploited this and created earldoms in the border areas (‘Marches’) of Chester, Shrewsbury and Hereford. The Chester March later became a Palatinate with its own courts and parliament.

These earls (the Marcher Lords) were extremely powerful and took Welsh lands along the border. The Welsh fought back strongly but by 1200 their land was divided between free Wales (Pura Walia) and numerous Norman Marcher Lordships (Marchia Wallia) .

In the 13th century, Gwynedd became the leading Welsh kingdom under Llywelyn Mawr (the Great) and his grandson Llwelyn ap Gruffudd (the Last), and strongly resisted English ambitions throughout Wales.

In 1282, Edward I of England embarked on a massive campaign to finally suppress Welsh resistance. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was killed and Edward constructed great castles such as Caernarfon and Conwy to control Gwynedd.

Edward gave his own son the title of ‘Prince of Wales’ and free Wales became his principality although Flintshire and other parts of North Wales were effectively annexed by the Chester March which controlled them until the Act of Union with England in 1536.

In 1400 Owain Glyn Dwr (Owen Glendower) led an unsuccessful rebellion against Henry IV. It was a bitter war and led to severe punitive measures against the Welsh. However, in 1485, Henry Tudor, part Welsh and born in Wales, emerged the victor of the ‘Wars of the Roses’ and was crowned Henry VII. Henry’s banner, ‘Y Ddraig Goch’ (The Red Dragon) later became the National Flag of Wales. Although Henry never returned to Wales, both he and his Tudor descendants took a more conciliatory line in dealings with the country.