After Edward
I conquered Wales
in 1283, the country was divided into two different areas. The land
that the king controlled became known as the Principality. This area
was ruled in a similar way to England. The Principality was divided
into shires (counties) which were governed by officials appointed
by the king. About two-thirds of Wales continued to be ruled by Marcher
Lords. These lands had been conquered by the Normans
in the 11th and 12th centuries.
At the Battle
of Bosworth in 1485, Henry
Tudor won the English throne from
Richard III. Henry was a Welsh man
who had relied heavily on Welsh soldiers
to help him win victory. After he
became king. Henry VII rewarded many
Welsh leaders who had helped him
with titles and government posts.
When Henry
VIII was king he became concerned with the way that Marcher Lords
ruled their lands. Reports he received suggested that the Marcher
Lords were failing to maintain law and order. It was argued that criminals
were breaking the law in England and then escaping to Wales. One report
claimed that a Welsh
official was receiving payment
from twenty-three murderers and
twenty-five thieves in return for protecting
them from English justice.
Henry's fears about the
power of the Marcher Lords grew after his break with the Catholic
church in 1534. Some of
these Marcher Lords were supporters of the Pope and Henry was worried
that they might rebel against him. Henry was also warned that Catholic
monarchs in France and Spain might try to invade England by landing
their soldiers on the poorly defended coasts of Wales. To protect
himself against this possibility. Henry decided to take control of
the whole of Wales.
Between 1536 and 1543,
the English Parliament passed
a series of laws that became known as the
Acts of Union. The Principality and the land controlled
by the Marcher Lords were now joined
together to form a united Wales.
Like England, the whole
of Wales was now divided
into shires. The administration of these shires
was based on the shires in England with each
one having its own Justice of the Peace.
Under the terms of the
Act of Union, Wales was granted permission to be represented in
Parliament. In 1542, twenty
seven people in Wales were elected to sit in the House
of Commons. Most of these elections were not contested and the
person sent to the House of Commons was usually selected by a few
wealthy families in the area.
One aspect of the Act of
Union upset a large number of people in Wales. The act stated that
all people that were chosen to represent Wales as officials or Members
of Parliament had to be able to speak English. It also stated that
the law-courts in Wales had to use the English language.
(1)
Act of Union (1536)
The people of Wales...
do daily use a speech nothing like the natural mother tongue used
in England... From henceforth no persons that use the Welsh speech
or language shall enjoy any... office or fees within this realm of
England and Wales.
(2)
George
Owen, Description of Pembrokeshire
(c. 1550)
The commodity of corn brings
in the most money to this county... The second is cattle... The third
commodity is wool... The sheep are small and the wool coarser than
the English wool... The fourth principal commodity is butter and cheese.
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