A Country within a Country

Elizabeth Statham 2010

 

The history of Wales has always been one closely connected with England. While Wales can be considered its own country, the Welsh have been living under English rule since medieval times. Therefore, it is not surprising that when William Shakespeare wrote his history plays during the Renaissance period, Wales was a part of his plays. This is especially since in I Henry IV as King Henry IV must fend off attack from Glyndwr, a rebel Welshman who is trying to rule over England. Wales has been a major influence on the history of England before and during the Renaissance period and beyond.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the history and development of Wales did not truly start to develop until the around 400 AD. Prior to that point, the Romans had control over what is now the United Kingdom. Despite the fact that the Celtic people had been in the area for over five hundred years they did not get the chance to break away from the Romans until the 5th century.  

The sixth and seventh century AD were marked by great amounts of fighting between England, aided by the efforts of the chief Arthur, and the Germanic tribes setting up in Britain (Jack 19). Eventually this led to the land known as Britain being divided by cultural and linguistic centers that are now known as England, Scotland and Wales. This allowed Wales to gain their own standing as a cultural and linguistic center separate from that of England. The permanent boundary between these two lands came in 784, when King Offa of Mercia declared Offa’s Dyke as the dividing line. This would later stand as a political and economic barrier, as well as a geographical one. For the next two centuries, Welsh leaders continually tried to cross the line to get more territory, but each time their progress was halted (Jack 190).

Throughout much of Medieval Wales, there is evidence of some significant conflict between ancient tribes. However, this changed with the reign of Gruffudd ap Llewelyn, who ruled Wales just after the start of the second millennium. He made it one of his main priorities to end the squabbles occurring between the tribes. By the time of his death in 1063, Wales was a united country, having succeeded in his goal of ending ancient conflicts. He has since been remembered as the greatest king prior to the Norman Conquest (Jack 84).

As united as Wales was for the next few centuries, the country still lived under the rule the English monarchy. In the middle of the twelfth century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, took over Wales from his father. During his reign, Gruffudd expanded the territory of Wales by including all the Welsh lords in his government. Gruffudd’s reign took place at the same time as King Henry III in England. Henry was forced to accept the success of Wales, accepting their new land and giving the title of the Prince of Wales to Gruffudd.

However, these changes did not last when Kind Edward I took power in England. Edward invaded Wales in a series of naval battles that ended up blockading the country. England then reclaimed all of the land that Wales had taken in the last thirty years. King Edward then provoked the people of Wales to revolt against the powers that cost them victory. The revolt killed both Gruffudd and his heir. The English monarchy took advantage of this and promptly set up the Statute of Wales in 1284. England took over the ruling of Wales, even giving the first born son of every English monarch the title Prince of Wales. Even though the Welsh were allowed to remain in the land that they had at the beginning of the century, their laws were changed and they no longer had any real power over their government. No Welsh person, leader or otherwise, had a say in the mandates of the Statute of Wales (Hewitt 15).

The Welsh were very unhappy with new laws that the English people put on them. However, the next hundred years were plagued with economic problems, which made a rebellion all but impossible. The rebellion that the Welsh wanted did not come until the “Great Rebellion,” which started in 1400, led by Owain Glyndwr (Jack 92).

Glyndwr’s goal was to end the English hold that they had over Wales and try to reign over England the same way that they had ruled over Wales for the last hundred years. Much to the surprise of many people on both sides of the revolt, Glyndwr had some success in key situations. This made many people start to believe that there was a mystical power behind the leader. Some people even believed that Glyndwr himself was magical. Once England realized that this could be a threat England started to pass penal laws on Wales that made revolting harder. One of the most important laws passed was banning Welshman from gathering together (Jack 115).

The fighting went very well for Glyndwr for a few years. He won some key victories against England and, in 1404, was confident in his abilities to win enough to declare himself the Prince of Wales, despite the fact that England’s Prince Henry already held that title. The reason for this self-proclamation is believed to have been a morale booster as well as an addition push for independence (Jack 212).

However, the rebellion started to hit problems in 1405, as the rebellion started to lose key battles. In 1403, the English fight against the Welsh had been led by Prince Henry, who later became King Henry V. Two years into his leadership, the English started winning against the Welsh. Between 1405 and 1408, Prince Henry crushed the rebellion, winning in two major battles and crushing the Welsh allies who were living in England. This left the Welsh with only one hope: the French. If the French agreed to fight against their enemy the English with the Welsh, then there was still a chance of Welsh victory. This option however was not a possibility for the French at the time, which led to eminent Welsh defeat. Prince Henry captured the Welsh strongholds in 1409, ending Wales’ hopes for independence. Although guerrilla fighting was present until 1415, two years after Prince Henry officially became King Henry V (Jack 155).

This loss was disastrous for the country of Wales. King Henry IV set up the Charter of Brecon so that Wales would not be tempted to try this again. The charter not only took back the lands that once belonged to Wales, forcing them back behind the boundary of Offa’s Dyke, which was set up more than six hundred years prior, but they were also fined very heavily. Today, the charter is considered very harsh for the time (Britannica).

By the time William Shakespeare was born in 1564, England had also set up the Act of Union which permanently bonded Wales to the United Kingdom. Once again the people and government of Wales had no say in this act (Becker 9).

Towards the end of the 1500’s, people started writing history in the form of plays, which was most notably seen in the works of William Shakespeare. Plays were an easy way to make history known to the commoner, which could have been one of the reasons that Shakespeare wrote a good number of them (Waith 17). One of the plays that Shakespeare wrote was I Henry IV and unsurprisingly had parts of Wales history mixed into the play.

The largest part that Wales plays in I Henry IV was the chronicling of the Glyndwr invasion. This was a true part of history, although some of the facts seemed to have been distorted from the actual historical records still in existence (Hattaway 166). For example, there is a good possibility that Shakespeare made Glyndwr seem more powerful and magical then he was or was even perceived. This could have been done to make Prince Hal seem more mighty and heroic at the end of the play (Holderness 52).

Another thing to note is that history makes it clear that England did not have any major victories against the Welsh until 1405, Shakespeare shows one in his play which is set in 1403 (Hattaway 166).

Shakespeare did however have a good amount of historical accuracies in I Henry IV. Prince Hal’s official title is the Prince of Wales, which goes along with the Statute of Wales. There is also a great deal of hostility seen between the English and the Welsh which is most likely historically accurate given the conflict that is seen between the two throughout the years (Hewitt 15).Shakespeare also did a very good job at showing the unruly nature that marked King Henry V’s youth. We also see a tapering of this behavior as Hal goes off to war against the Welsh, which also matches historical record (Waith 107).

However, despite all of the similarities and differences it is important to remember that Shakespeare’s I Henry IV, as well as the rest of his history plays, have been told from the side of the victor. If a Welsh playwright would have documented this same story, it is very possible that Glyndwr would have been the hero and Prince Hal the villain. Therefore, it is critical that these plays are not seen as an accurate picture of history, but rather a play that reflects parts of history.

Throughout history, Wales has been a part of England’s history and vice versa. The relationship has not always been friendly, as we see in Shakespeare’s I Henry IV, but the countries have walked a shared path and one of the most unique relationships in European history.

Works Consulted

Becker, George J. Shakespeare’s Histories. New York: Frederick Unger, 1977.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Ed. Nicholas Carr. May 1994. Britannica Encyclopedia.
30 Oct. 2008 <www.britannica.com>.

Hattaway, Michael, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays. By
William Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2002.

Hewitt, H. J. The Black Prince’s Expedition. Manchester: University of Manchester,
1958.

Holderness, Graham, Nick Potter, and John Turner. Shakespeare: The Play of History.
Iowa City: University of Iowa, 1988.

Jack, R. I. Medieval Wales. Ithaca: Cornell University, 1972.

Shakespeare, Willaim. I Henry IV. The Necessary Shakespeare. Ed. David Bevington.
2nd Edition. New York: Pearson, 2005. 373-411.

Waith, Eugene M., ed. Shakespeare: The Histories. Eaglewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1965.