The Welsh The Biography

Terry Breverton

• Publisher: Amberley Publishing
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781445615721
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

The Welsh: The Biography tells the story of the remarkable survival of the oldest nation and oldest language in Europe. We see how the four original major Celtic tribes are still reflected in the location of Britain's four oldest cathedrals, and how after one and a half millennia of constant invasions and eventual conquest, the Welsh retained their sense of nationality. The story of the Welsh is one of defending the nation against overwhelming odds, and of a major contribution to European literature. Its tenth century laws are acknowledged as the most progressive in the world until the later twentieth century. Almost uniquely in the world, Wales has had heroines as well as heroes, princesses as well as princes who contributed to its progress. Wales has given heroes such as Owain Glyndwr who are recognised across the globe, and men such as David Lloyd George, to whom Hitler attributed the winning of First World War. The character of the Welsh – their pacifism, literary abilities and influence – is splendidly described in this unique history of the Welsh as a people.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Introduction
• 1 - The Earliest People & the First Tribes 250,000 BCE–43 CE
• 2 - The Welsh & the Romans 43 CE–390 CE
• 3 - The Invasion of Britain, Arthur & the Age of the Saints 410–600
• 4 - The Royal Families & the Continuing Saxon Invasion 600–1066
• 5 - The Welsh Princes & the Norman Invasion 1066–1283
• 6 - The Loss of Independence, & the Time of Llawgoch, Glyndŵr & Henry Tudor 1283–1485
• 7 - Welsh Resurgence Under the Tudors 1485–1603
• 8 - Wales, the Stuarts & Civil War 1604–1707
• 9 - The Eighteenth-Century Welsh: The Effects of Education, Religion & the Industrial Revolution
• 10 - Nineteenth-Century Wales: A Centre of Global Industrialisation, Riots & Politicisation of the Working Classes
• 11 - The Twentieth-Century Decline of Wales
• 12 - A Personal Perspective on the Twenty-First Century
• Picture Section
• Postscript
• Sources
• Note to the Illustrations