Ponderings

Tag: wales

  • The Gem in the Crown

    March the 1st is St David’s Day, the annual celebration of Wales’ patron saint, Wales and Welsh culture. It is an important time of celebration for the people of Wales and the Welsh diaspora.

    Wales remains a vital and integral part of the United Kingdom. However it has struggled to maintain a civil relationship with its much larger and more powerful neighbour, England. This uneasiness has ebbed and flowed throughout our history. Many militant Welsh nationalists have leaped onto this feeling of disquiet and exploited it to promote the cause of independence. Their ultimate aim is the total and complete severance from the United Kingdom.

    Wales has a degree of political and cultural autonomy, but it is still subservient to the parliament based in Westminster. There is a tacit acceptance amongst many Welsh people that financially at least Wales will always be reliant upon England. However this is a point of contention for other people.

    Unfortunately there are always bad actors on the political stage, who thrive on division and propagate propaganda that only benefits them and their grip upon power. Their role is familiar to anyone who has witnessed how political drama has played out in the modern world. They use sophisticated tools of manipulation, and subvert facts to fit their agenda. They are experts in emotive language, and cynically and knowingly employ the most sentimental words to cement support. They are devious, revealing a kind of romantic prejudice that plays well to their chosen audience.

    However, they are completely detached from reality. They only exist in a realm of artifice, a luxurious bubble which insulates them from the rigours of daily life. They do not care about the fate of ordinary people. They only want to display their supposed virtue to bolster their social status. Ordinary people are just pawns in their game. It is tactical rather than genuine. It is a gambit, and the people who use it have no sincerity.

    The United Kingdom has only survived as a consequence of mutual understanding and respect. It is a sovereign state composed of a patchwork of nations, but in ancient times there was only a semblance of unity. Loyalty was strictly maintained on tribal lines. Sporadic battles broke out between competing and rival tribes. This enabled the Roman conquest, and gave them an obvious advantage in consolidating their power. A unified society would have resisted and defeated them.

    The Roman centurions were impressed by the warrior spirit of the Welsh. One of these fierce and indomitable warriors was called Caradog. His indefatigability in battle was so impressive that he was awarded honorary Roman citizenship. This was a rare privilege. Ultimately the harshness of the climate, and the periodic shortage of food, especially grain defeated Roman rule in Wales. Wales remained defiantly independent, and resisted further invasion until the Normans arrived.

    Normans were urbane sophisticates who were adept at civic organisation, castle construction and political diplomacy. It was an entirely new form of imperial rule. There was an element of cultural superiority, but mutual respect and admiration too. The Normans brought literacy to this island, and scribes immortalised Welsh myth and folklore for the first time. If they had not written these treasures, they would have been lost in the sands in time for good.

    Other Welshmen signed up to the Anglo-Norman Army and played a vital role as combatants during the many battles with the French. They were credited with the invention of the longbow, a weapon which was indispensable on the battlefield. However this glorious medieval period drew to a close as a series of civil wars threatened to tear the Kingdom apart once more. Ostensibly these were between warring Royal dynasties, and became known as the “Wars of the Roses”. The House of York was defeated, and the victory was handed to the Tudors. This was a defining moment. The new King, Henry VII was the grandson of Sir Owen Tudor, a prominent figure in the Welsh court. His ascendance ensured that the English and Welsh crowns were finally united.

    In 1487, the King issued a final coup de grace to the vanquished Yorkists, and commissioned the Crown Imperial. He planned to wear it on the Feast of Epiphany. This was a traditional custom that was held every year, when the monarch re-enacted the part of the Three Kings delivering gifts to the Christ child. The new crown was ornate, made of gold and encrusted with precious stones including rubies, diamonds, sapphires and pearls. It was seven pounds in weight. This was symbolic, and heralded a new direction for the Kingdom, in which Wales played a central part.

    The Tudor age shaped and reimagined a “Merrie Land” which inspired others in the centuries since. However in the twenty-first century, there is a tendency to deride history. The Welsh nationalists are either ignorant of the past or do not care about it, but their cynicism must be condemned as divisive. We must remember our long, proud history of unity and harmony.

  • Dreams Of Mysterious Light

    Dreams Of Mysterious Light.

    March 1st is St David’s Day, the annual celebration of Wales, Welsh history and culture. Wales has a unique status within the United Kingdom. It is regarded as the last surviving remnant of our Celtic origins. Since the Iron Age, Celtic tribes established their own separate kingdoms. These autonomous regions existed for over one thousand years. The situation changed dramatically when this island was subjected to continuous invasion.

    However tribal life prevailed in spite of Roman occupation. Subsequent invasions had a much more deleterious effect on the indigenous people. The Ancient Britons had a long poetic tradition of prophecy and legend. Fragments of these poems only exist in the Irish, Cornish and Welsh dialects, but in England there is no trace of the literature. However this is a familiar story from imperial history, as Syriac manuscripts were also destroyed during the Macedonian occupation of Syria.

    Wales, and Cornwall became sacred sanctuaries, and a necessary place of respite from foreign influence and oppression. Unlike Scotland, which ultimately manifested itself as a protectorate of England, Wales maintained a native identity. The Welsh people continue to maintain a strong identity which is based on myth, legend and lore rather than literal truth.

    The repeated claim that the Welsh are the last surviving indigenous Britons is tenuous, considering the fact that recent DNA analysis has proven that an estimated 80% of the entire British population have Celtic, rather than Saxon or Viking genes. Part of this derives from a general misunderstanding surrounding the definitions of genetics and inheritance, many people think that they mean the same thing. However these are distinct, genetics is a biological and material fact, whereas inheritance is something that is acquired from culture and society. Language and religion, for instance, are inherited.

    Invasions altered the culture of this country, but they had a barely perceptible effect on our genetics. The Welsh language is believed to be the oldest in Europe, and though the numbers are dwindling it is still spoken in parts of Wales. However the etymological root of Welsh was not completely severed, Celtic words still linger in English place names like Avon.

    Despite this, the cultural dominance of the invaders overwhelmed the original cultures almost to the verge of extinction. However some historians have suggested that the interaction between the Celts and Saxons was not entirely violent, and there was some degree of affinity rather than rancour. Consequently a hybrid culture emerged. Further invasions did not engender such a positive response.

    The Norman incursions had a particularly devastating impact, and Wales was no exception. A Welsh chronicler observed the violent subjugation of a once proud and defiant people, which culminated with the death of the last Welsh born prince Rhys ap Tewdwr.

    The chronicler believed that his murder ultimately signified the end of a great civilisation. He portentously proclaimed, “and then fell the kingdom of the Britons”. The Norman overlords had no interest in adapting to the native culture. The vernacular languages were suppressed, and social mobility for the native people was predicated on acquiring the language of the oppressors.

    The fourteenth century chronicler, Ranulf Higden lamented that,

    “Children in school, contrary to the usage and custom of other nations, are compelled to drop their own language and to construe their lessons and other tasks in French….Also, gentleman’s children are taught to speak French from the time that they are rocked in their cradles and can talk and play with a child’s toy; and provincial men want to liken themselves to gentlemen, and try with great effort to speak French, so as to be more thought of”.

    However the language of the original people did not wholly die, it simply evolved. Welsh and Cornish were preserved, and unlike other Celtic languages like Cumbric, these have survived into the twenty-first century.

    St. David was a Welsh born saint, and a heroic figure for generations of Welsh people. Most of his life is shrouded in legend. The only information that has survived is contained within an 11th century document written by a Welsh bishop called Rhygyfarch. However historians have issued an important caveat, advising that this text is mainly propaganda, to undermine Anglo-Saxon influence and to promote a distinctly Welsh culture. Nonetheless, the story is magnificent and magical.

    The story of St David is detailed In “Buchedd Dewi”, or “The Life of David” in English. He was the son of Non, a Welsh nun. Non lived at a convent called Ty Gwyn, which means “the white house”. Sanctus, the King of Ceredigion visited Non but she was “unhappily seized and exposed to the sacrilegious violence”. The consequence of this violent encounter was the conception of David.

    When a local preacher visited Non, he refused to preach as he was so disturbed by her visibly pregnant state. She interpreted this as a sign that her child was destined to become a great preacher himself. A local ruler discovered that Non was about to give birth and plotted to have the child killed, but a ferocious storm descended.

    Miraculously, as Non’s labour came to an end the storm began to clear. David arrived, bathed in light amongst the rocks. Non’s labour pains were so intense that as she grabbed the rocks, one rock split into two. The site is now a church dedicated to St. David, and the stone is concealed underneath the altar.

    St. David fulfilled his mother’s destiny and became a great preacher. He established monastic communities throughout Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. According to the legend, St. David’s last prayer was for the Welsh people to receive a light to warn them of their death, so that they could be prepared. He received a vision where his wish was granted. He was told that they would receive the “dim light of mysterious tapers”. This legend remains the source of great comfort for generations of Welsh people.

    Welsh people cling to the foundation myth of St. David, who created a beacon for the Welsh people amidst a rapidly dwindling and decaying civilisation. It remains a source of national pride that, unlike St. Patrick, St. George or St. Andrew, he is a native son. It is an inspiration that as other cultures and civilisations decline in the mindless pursuit for materialism, there is a corner of the world that strives to keep the flame alive.