126-431: Ellis is a surname of Welsh and English origin. An independent French origin of the surname is said to derive from the phrase fleur-de-lis . It has also been noted to be a Jewish surname. People with the surname include: Welsh people Modern ethnicities The Welsh ( Welsh : Cymry ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Wales who share a common ancestry, history and culture . Wales
252-489: A Life of St Cuthbert . Archaeology provides further evidence for this period, in some cases suggesting that the depopulation of Roman towns and the development of villa and estate organization was already occurring in the 4th century. The 5th and 6th centuries in Britain are marked by a sharp discontinuity in town life, with the exception of a few sites such as Londinium , Eboracum , Canterbury and Wroxeter , but
378-458: A Romano-British king might have wielded considerable power during the sub-Roman period, as demonstrated by the creation of sites such as Tintagel and earthworks such as the Wansdyke . Such interpretations continue to attract the popular imagination and the scepticism of academics. While pushed back politically and linguistically, British scholars and ecclesiastics had a significant impact on
504-530: A first language is largely concentrated in the less urban north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , inland Conwy and Denbighshire , northern and south-western Powys , the Isle of Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , North Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , and parts of western Glamorgan , although first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. However, Cardiff is now home to an urban Welsh-speaking population (both from other parts of Wales and from
630-561: A "council" was convened by Vortigern to find ways of countering the barbarian threat. The council opted to hire Saxon mercenaries, following Roman practice. After a while these turned against the British and plundered the towns. A British leader, Ambrosius Aurelianus , fought against them in a number of battles apparently over a long period. Towards the end of this period was the Battle of Mons Badonicus , around 490, which later sources claimed
756-755: A British national identity only. Most residents of Wales (96 per cent, 2.9 million) reported at least one national identity of English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, or British. A survey published in 2001, by the Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends at Oxford University (sample size 1161), found that 14.6 per cent of respondents described themselves as British, not Welsh; 8.3 per cent saw themselves as more British than Welsh; 39.0 per cent described themselves as equally Welsh and British; 20.2 per cent saw themselves as more Welsh than British; and 17.9 per cent described themselves as Welsh, not British. Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what
882-789: A British population. Names based on the Anglo-Saxon word for the British, wealh , are also taken as indicating British survival. An example is Walton, meaning settlement of the British and this name is found in many parts of England, though it sometimes means Wall-town . Surviving inscriptions on stones provide another source of information on the settlements of Britons and the Anglo-Saxons. Celtic inscribed stones from this period occur in western England, Wales and southern Scotland. Inscriptions in parts of Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall, are in ogham , some containing forms which scholars have not been able to understand. Two contrasting models of
1008-534: A Scottish ethnicity tick-box be included in the census in Scotland, and with this inclusion as many as 88.11% claimed Scottish ethnicity. Critics argued that a higher proportion of respondents would have described themselves as of Welsh ethnicity had a Welsh tick-box been made available. Additional criticism was levelled at the timing of the census, which was taken in the middle of the 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis . Organisers said that this had not affected
1134-716: A Welsh Mormon settlement, lays claim to a greater proportion of inhabitants of Welsh descent than anywhere outside Wales itself. Malad's local High School is known as the "Malad Dragons", and flies the Welsh Flag as its school colours. Welsh people have also settled in New Zealand and Australia. Around 1.75 million Americans report themselves to have Welsh ancestry, as did 458,705 Canadians in Canada's 2011 census . This compares with 2.9 million people living in Wales (as of
1260-867: A bishop who ministered to the spiritual needs of the British immigrants to northwestern Spain: in 572 the bishop, Mailoc, had a Celtic name. The settlers had brought their Celtic Christianity with them but finally accepted the Latin Church 's jurisdiction at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633. The diocese stretched from Ferrol to the Eo River . In Spain, the area has sometimes been dubbed "the third Britain" or "the last Britain". Non-Anglo-Saxon kingdoms began appearing in western Britain, and are first referred to in Gildas' De Excidio . To an extent these kingdoms may have derived from Roman structures. But it
1386-547: A box describing themselves as of Scottish or of Irish ethnicity, an option not available for Welsh or English respondents. Prior to the census, Plaid Cymru backed a petition calling for the inclusion of a Welsh tick-box and for the National Assembly to have primary law-making powers and its own National Statistics Office . In the absence of a Welsh tick-box, the only tick-boxes available were 'white-British,' 'Irish', or 'other'. The Scottish parliament insisted that
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#17327732117701512-550: A daily basis, the Welsh language is spoken at home among family or in informal settings, with Welsh speakers often engaging in code-switching and translanguaging . In the English-speaking areas of Wales, many Welsh people are bilingually fluent or semi-fluent in the Welsh language or, to varying degrees, capable of speaking or understanding the language at limited or conversational proficiency levels. The Welsh language
1638-562: A distinct genetic difference between those from northern and southern Wales, which was interpreted as the legacy of Little England beyond Wales . A study of a diverse sample of 2,039 individuals from the United Kingdom allowed the creation of a genetic map and the suggestion that there was a substantial migration of peoples from Europe prior to Roman times forming a strong ancestral component across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, but which had little impact in Wales. Wales forms
1764-713: A distinct genetic group, followed by a further division between north and south Wales, although there was evidence of a genetic difference between north and south Pembrokeshire as separated by the Landsker line . Speaking of these results, Professor Peter Donnelly , of the University of Oxford, said that the Welsh carry DNA which could be the most ancient in UK and that people from Wales are genetically relatively distinct. The population of Wales doubled from 587,000 in 1801 to 1,163,000 in 1851 and had reached 2,421,000 by 1911. Most of
1890-406: A few other documents of the period do exist, such as Gildas' letters on monasticism, they are not directly relevant to British history. Gildas' De Excidio is a jeremiad : it is written as a polemic to warn contemporary rulers against sin, demonstrating through historical and biblical examples that bad rulers are always punished by God – in the case of Britain, through the destructive wrath of
2016-621: A heritage back to the Iron Age tribes. When the Roman legions departed Britain around 400, a Romano-British culture remained in the areas the Romans had settled, and the pre-Roman cultures in others. The people in what is now Wales continued to speak Common Brittonic with significant influence from Latin , as did people in other areas of western and northern Britain; this language eventually evolved into Old Welsh . The surviving poem Y Gododdin
2142-731: A long period. The proximate cause of the end of Roman rule in Britannia appears to have been a power-struggle between aristocrats and Stilicho , a Roman general and strongman of the Roman Empire . In order to protect Italy from invasions by the Visigoths , Stilicho had seriously depleted the Roman forces defending the Limes Germanicus . In the summer of 406 there was a rebellion of legionarii in Britain that resulted in
2268-507: A monastery, but later as a princely stronghold and trading post. Another important excavation was at Dinas Powys (Alcock 1963) which showed evidence of metalworking. Alcock also led the excavations at South Cadbury (Alcock 1995). Many other sites have now been shown to have been occupied during the sub-Roman period, including Birdoswald and Saxon Shore forts. Work on field systems and environmental archaeology has also highlighted how much agricultural practice continued and changed over
2394-630: A reference to the Welsh. Until c. 1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry , regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. During their time in Britain , the ancient Romans encountered tribes in present-day Wales that they called the Ordovices , the Demetae , the Silures and the Deceangli . The people of what is now Wales were not distinguished from the rest of
2520-483: A sense of "land of fellow-countrymen", "our country", and notions of fraternity. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the post-Roman Era relationship of the Welsh with the Brythonic-speaking peoples of northern England and southern Scotland, the peoples of " Yr Hen Ogledd " (English: The Old North ). The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century. It
2646-532: Is a focal point for many Welsh Hindus. There are about 2,000 Sikhs in Wales, with the first purpose-built gurdwara opened in the Riverside area of Cardiff in 1989. The Sabbatarian temperance movement was also historically strong among the Welsh; the sale of alcohol was prohibited on Sundays in Wales by the Sunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 – the first legislation specifically issued for Wales since
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#17327732117702772-676: Is also clear that they drew on a strong influence from Hibernia , which was never part of the Roman Empire. Archaeology has helped further the study of these kingdoms, notably at sites like Tintagel or the hillfort at South Cadbury . In the north there developed the British kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd , the "Old North", comprising Ebrauc (probable name), Bryneich , Rheged , Strathclyde , Elmet and Gododdin . 5th- and 6th-century repairs along Hadrian's Wall have been uncovered, and at Whithorn in south western Scotland (possibly
2898-565: Is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan ( Moliant Cadwallon , by Afan Ferddig) c. 633 . In Welsh literature , the word Cymry was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the Welsh, though the older, more generic term Brythoniaid continued to be used to describe any of the Britonnic peoples , including the Welsh, and was the more common literary term until c. 1100 . Thereafter Cymry prevailed as
3024-635: Is descended from Brythonic, spoken across Britain since before the Roman invasion . In 2016, an analysis of the geography of Welsh surnames commissioned by the Welsh Government found that 718,000 people (nearly 35% of the Welsh population) have a family name of Welsh origin, compared with 5.3% in the rest of the United Kingdom, 4.7% in New Zealand, 4.1% in Australia, and 3.8% in the United States, with an estimated 16.3 million people in
3150-587: Is finding more use in the academic community, especially when transformations of classical culture common throughout the post-Roman West are examined. The period may also be considered as part of the early Middle Ages , if continuity with the following periods is stressed. Popular (and some academic) works use a range of more dramatic names for the period: the Dark Ages , the Brythonic Age, the Age of Tyrants, or
3276-568: Is in early Welsh and refers to the British kingdom of Gododdin with a capital at Din Eidyn ( Edinburgh ) and extending from the area of Stirling to the Tyne. Offa's Dyke was erected in the mid-8th century, forming a barrier between Wales and Mercia . The process whereby the indigenous population of Wales came to think of themselves as "Welsh" (a name applied to them by Anglo-Saxon settlers )
3402-451: Is more evidence in the grammar than in the lexicon , though this is challenged by many. Latin continued to be used for writing but the extent of its use for speech has been much disputed. Similarly, studies of place names give clues about the linguistic history of an area. England (except Cornwall and Cumbria ) shows patchy evidence now of Celtic in its place names. There are scattered Celtic place names throughout, increasing towards
3528-474: Is not clear. There is plenty of evidence of the use of the term Brythoniaid (Britons); meanwhile, the earliest use of the word Kymry (referring not to the people but to the land—and possibly to northern Britain in addition to Wales) is found in a poem c. 633 . The name of the region in northern England now known as Cumbria is derived from the same root. Only gradually did Cymru (the land) and Cymry (the people) come to supplant Brython . Although
3654-536: Is now Wales for more than 1,400 years. Most Welsh people of faith are affiliated with the Church in Wales or other Christian denominations such as the Presbyterian Church of Wales , Catholicism , and Russian Orthodox Christianity. Wales has a long tradition of nonconformism and Methodism . Some Welsh people are affiliated with either Buddhism , Hinduism , Judaism , Islam or Sikhism . In
3780-683: Is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom . The majority of people living in Wales are British citizens . In Wales, the Welsh language ( Welsh : Cymraeg ) is protected by law. Welsh remains the predominant language in many parts of Wales, particularly in North Wales and parts of West Wales , though English is the predominant language in South Wales . The Welsh language is also taught in schools in Wales; and, even in regions of Wales in which Welsh people predominantly speak English on
3906-597: Is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the Anglo-Saxon settlement . The term was originally used to describe archaeological remains found in 5th- and 6th-century AD sites that hinted at the decay of locally made wares from a previous higher standard under the Roman Empire . It is now used to describe the period that commenced with the recall of Roman troops to Gaul by Constantine III in 407 and to have concluded with
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4032-626: Is traditionally seen as the significant Christianising event for the Saxons, a bishop had already arrived in Kent with the king's Merovingian wife. Other Saxons remained pagan after this time. In 429, a British Deacon, Palladius , had requested support from the Pope in Rome to combat Pelagianism . Bishops Germanus and Lupus of Troyes were sent. Germanus, a former military commander, is reported to have led
4158-464: Is uncertain how many people in Wales considered themselves to be of Welsh ethnicity; the 2001 UK census did not offer 'Welsh' as an option; respondents had to use a box marked "Other". Ninety-six per cent of the population of Wales thus described themselves as being White British . Controversy surrounding the method of determining ethnicity began as early as 2000, when it was revealed that respondents in Scotland and Northern Ireland would be able to tick
4284-629: Is your country of birth? and How would you describe your national identity? (for the first time 'Welsh' and 'English' were included as options), What is your ethnic group? ('White Welsh/English/Scottish/Northern Irish/British' was an option) and Can you understand, speak, read or write Welsh? . As of the 2011 census in Wales, 66 per cent (2.0 million) of residents reported a Welsh national identity (either on its own or combined with other identities). Of these, 218,000 responded that they had Welsh and British national identity. Just under 17 per cent (519,000) of people in Wales considered themselves to have
4410-480: The 2001 census ). There is no known evidence which would objectively support the legend that the Mandan , a Native American tribe of the central United States, are Welsh emigrants who reached North America under Prince Madog in 1170. The Ukrainian city of Donetsk was founded in 1869 by a Welsh businessman, John Hughes (an engineer from Merthyr Tydfil ) who constructed a steel plant and several coal mines in
4536-433: The Battle of Deorham in 577. The period of sub-Roman Britain traditionally covers the history of the parts of Britain that had been under Roman rule from the end of Roman imperial rule , traditionally dated to be in 410, to the arrival of Saint Augustine in 597. The date taken for the end of this period is arbitrary in that the sub-Roman culture continued in northern England until the merger of Rheged (the kingdom of
4662-517: The Brigantes ) with Northumbria by dynastic marriage in 633, and longer in the west of Britain, and Cornwall , Cumbria and Wales especially. This period has attracted a great deal of academic and popular debate, in part because of the scarcity of the written source material. The term "post-Roman Britain" is also used for the period; "sub-Roman" and "post-Roman" are terms that apply to the old Roman province of Britannia , i.e. Britain south of
4788-589: The Bronze Age . The British groups encountered by the Romans were thus largely descended from these Beaker populations. The post-Roman period saw a significant alteration in the genetic makeup of southern Britain due to the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons; however, historical evidence suggests that Wales was little affected by these migrations. A study published in 2016 compared samples from modern Britain and Ireland with DNA found in skeletons from Iron Age, Roman and Anglo-Saxon era Yorkshire. The study found that most of
4914-801: The Forth – Clyde line. The history of the area between Hadrian's Wall and the Forth–Clyde line is similar to that of Wales (see Rheged , Bernicia , Gododdin and Strathclyde ). North of the line lay a thinly populated area including the kingdoms of the Maeatae (in Angus ), Dalriada (in Argyll ), and the kingdom whose kaer (castle) near Inverness was visited by Saint Columba . The Romans referred to these peoples collectively as Picti , meaning 'Painted Ones'. The term " late antiquity ", implying wider horizons,
5040-497: The Isle of Anglesey (19%). Among respondents between 16 and 74 years of age, those claiming Welsh ethnicity were predominantly in professional and managerial occupations. In advance of the 2011 UK Census, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) launched a census consultation exercise. They received replies from 28 different Welsh organisations and a large proportion of these referred to Welsh ethnicity, language or identity. For
5166-560: The Old English language and the Brythonic language and peoples migrated from south-western Britain to Armorica , which eventually became Brittany . This interpretation particularly appealed to earlier English historians, who wanted to further their view that England had developed differently from mainland Europe, with a limited monarchy and love of liberty. This, it was argued, came from the mass Anglo-Saxon invasions. While this view
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5292-454: The Polish name for Italy) have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry (plural) (singular: Cymro [m] and Cymraes [f]), and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales. These words (both of which are pronounced Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm.ri] ) are descended from the Brythonic word kombrogi , meaning "fellow-countrymen". Thus, they carry
5418-536: The Saxon invaders. The historical section of De Excidio is short, and the material in it is clearly selected with Gildas' purpose in mind. There are no absolute dates given, and some of the details, such as those regarding the Hadrian's and Antonine Walls are clearly wrong. Nevertheless, Gildas does provide us with an insight into some of the kingdoms that existed when he was writing, and how an educated monk perceived
5544-651: The Vandals , Burgundians , Alans and Sueves crossed the Rhine and overran the Limes Germanicus . Meanwhile, there were barbarian raids on Britain in 408, but these seem to have been defeated. After 410 Honorius apparently sent letters to the cities of Britain telling them to fend for themselves, though this is sometimes disputed. From the middle of the 5th century the Germanic raiders began to settle in
5670-662: The 1990s, with a reduction in the numbers of Anglo-Saxons believed to have arrived in Britain. A lower figure is sometimes accepted, which would mean that it is highly unlikely that the existing British population was substantially displaced by the Anglo-Saxons. If fewer Anglo-Saxons arrived, it is proposed that they formed a ruling elite, with acculturation of the local population. Thus some "Saxon" graves may be of Britons, though many scholars disagree. Two genetic studies published in 2016, using data from ancient burials found in Cambridgeshire, Yorkshire and Durham, found that
5796-595: The 2001, around 7,000 classified themselves as following "other religions", including a reconstructed form of Druidism , which was the pre-Christian religion of Wales (not to be confused with the Druids of the Gorsedd at the National Eisteddfod of Wales). Approximately one third of the population, some 980,000 people, profess no religious faith whatsoever. The census showed that slightly fewer than 10% of
5922-405: The 5th century. In the sub-Roman period, building in stone gradually came to an end; buildings were constructed of less durable materials than during the Roman period. However, brooches , pottery , and weapons from this period have survived. The study of burials and cremations , and the grave goods associated with these, has done much to expand the understanding of cultural identities in
6048-630: The 6th century. After the Norman Conquest there were many books written that purport to give the history of the Sub-Roman period. These have been influenced by the fictionalised account in Geoffrey of Monmouth 's Historia Regum Britanniae ( History of the Kings of Britain ). Therefore, they can only be regarded as showing how the legends grew. Not until modern times have serious studies of
6174-550: The Age of Arthur . Little extant written material is available from this period, though a considerable amount from later periods may be relevant. A lot of what is available deals with the first few decades of the 5th century only. The sources can usefully be classified into British and continental, and into contemporary and non-contemporary. Two primary contemporary British sources exist: the Confessio of Saint Patrick and Gildas ' De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae ( On
6300-540: The Anglo-Saxon newcomers through literacy, ecclesiastical social constructs and historical memory of the Roman period in Britain, particularly after the Christianizing of the Anglo-Saxons. Coming from a fully oral cultural background, the Anglo-Saxons were heavily influenced by the more developed Christianized and literate culture of the Britons. British scholars were often employed at Anglo-Saxon courts to assist in
6426-409: The British areas, such as that at Glastonbury , though mostly not until the 6th century; but the "Saxons" were pagan. This reinforced a great antipathy between the peoples. Many Roman cemeteries continued into much later times, such as that at Cannington, Somerset . In the east, there was a gradual transition among the pagan Saxons from cremation to inhumation . Although the arrival of Saint Augustine
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#17327732117706552-529: The British people to rebel against Rome. These arguments are open to criticism, and the question is still open. It was a violent period, and there was probably widespread tension, alluded to in all the written sources. This may have led to the deaths of many Britons. There are also references to plagues. Laycock ( Britannia the Failed State , 2008) suggests tribal conflict, possibly even starting before 410, may have sliced up much of Britain and helped destroy
6678-508: The British to the "Hallelujah" victory, possibly in Wales or Herefordshire. Germanus is said to have made a second visit to England later. Participation by a British bishop at a synod in Gaul demonstrates that at least some British churches were in full administrative and doctrinal touch with Gaul as late as 455. In the north, Whithorn is said to be the earliest church in Scotland, being founded in 397 by Saint Ninian . Coroticus (or Ceretic)
6804-532: The Britons of South West England (known later as the West Welsh) from those of Wales. (Just after the period being discussed, the Battle of Chester in 611 might have separated the latter from those of the north of England.) Until the 570s, Britons were still in control of about half of England and Wales. Various British kingdoms existed at some point in the period. Some changed their names and some were absorbed by others. Not all of their names, especially in
6930-460: The Emperor and provided military support, whilst retaining their independence. If the theory is correct, Germanic peoples may have been resident in Britain before and after these reforms. One thing led to another to create a spiral. The policy of substituting mercenaries who were paid in gold which should have gone to support the professional standing army and accommodation to their presence spelled
7056-739: The English language. Patagonian Welsh (Cymraeg y Wladfa) is a dialect of the Welsh language which is spoken in Y Wladfa in the Argentine region, Patagonia . There has been migration from Wales to the rest of Britain throughout its history. During the Industrial Revolution thousands of Welsh people migrated, for example, to Liverpool and Ashton-in-Makerfield . As a result, some people from England, Scotland and Ireland have Welsh surnames. Welsh settlers moved to other parts of Europe, concentrated in certain areas. During
7182-527: The Failed State , 2008) sees Britain violently fragmenting into kingdoms based on British tribal identities; 'violently' is disputable, but clearly most of the civitates gradually transformed into kingdoms. Life seems to have continued much as before in the countryside, and on a reduced scale in the towns as evidenced by the descriptions of Germanus ' visits. It appears that while Roman cities and towns have decreased in size, they retained administrative and symbolic importance for new polities. Gildas says that
7308-574: The Industrial Revolution. The English were the most numerous group, but there were also considerable numbers of Irish; and smaller numbers of other ethnic groups, including Italians migrated to South Wales. Wales received other immigration from various parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations in the 20th century, and African-Caribbean and Asian communities immigrated particularly to urban Wales. In 2001, it
7434-600: The Iron Age and Roman era Britons showed strong similarities with both each other and modern-day Welsh populations, while modern southern and eastern English groups were closer to a later Anglo-Saxon burial. Another study, using Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon samples from Cambridgeshire, concluded that modern Welsh people carry a 30% genetic contribution from Anglo-Saxon settlers in the post-Roman period; however, this could have been brought about due to later migration from England into Wales. A third study, published in 2020 and based on Viking era data from across Europe, suggested that
7560-466: The Jewish population of that area, which reached a peak of 4,000–5,000 in 1913, has declined; only Cardiff has retained a sizeable Jewish population, of about 2000 in the 2001 Census. The largest non-Christian faith in Wales is Islam, with about 22,000 members in 2001 served by about 40 mosques, following the first mosque established in Cardiff . A college for training clerics has been established at Llanybydder in West Wales . Islam arrived in Wales in
7686-476: The Middle Ages. From the early 1960s, local council areas were permitted to hold referendums every seven years to determine whether they should be "wet" or "dry" on Sundays: most of the industrialised areas in the east and south went "wet" immediately, and by the 1980s the last district, Dwyfor in the northwest, went wet; since then there have been no more Sunday-closing referendums. Despite Christianity dominating Wales, more ancient traditions persisted. In 1874 it
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#17327732117707812-428: The Ruin and Conquest of Britain ). Patrick's Confessio and his Letter to Coroticus reveal aspects of life in Britain, from where he was abducted to Ireland. It is particularly useful in highlighting the state of Christianity at the time . Gildas is the nearest to a source of Sub-Roman history but there are many problems in using it. The document represents British history as he and his audience understood it. Though
7938-433: The Scots ( Gaelic ), the Picts and the Latins " ( HE 1.1). A review of the changes in the Brythonic language during this period is given by Kenneth H. Jackson . Studies of Old English , P- and Q-Celtic , and Latin have provided evidence for contact among the Britons, the Gaels, and the Anglo-Saxons . The consensus is that Old English has little evidence of linguistic contact. Some scholars have suggested that there
8064-445: The Treaty of 382, were allowed to remain with the Empire intact, which reversed the centuries-old Roman policy of destroying barbarian enemies by killing them all, selling them or incorporating them into the Roman army by scattering them across units. The hospitalitas system granted a third of the land (or fees) of a region to barbarians who had invaded and occupied those lands assigned to them. In return, these people declared loyalty to
8190-484: The US may have been 26 times greater than Welsh emigration), to many countries, including the US (in particular, Pennsylvania ), Canada and Y Wladfa in Patagonia , Argentina. Jackson County, Ohio was sometimes referred to as "Little Wales", and one of several communities where Welsh was widely spoken. There was a Welsh language press but by the late 1940s, the last Welsh language newspaper, y Drych began to publish in English. Malad City in Idaho , which began as
8316-436: The Welsh language was certainly used at the time, Gwyn A. Williams argues that even at the time of the erection of Offa's Dyke, the people to its west saw themselves as Roman, citing the number of Latin inscriptions still being made into the 8th century. However, it is unclear whether such inscriptions reveal a general or normative use of Latin as a marker of identity or its selective use by the early Christian Church . There
8442-463: The Welsh population are regular church or chapel goers (a slightly smaller proportion than in England or Scotland), although about 58% of the population see themselves as Christian in some form. Judaism has quite a long history in Wales, with a Jewish community recorded in Swansea from around 1730. In August 1911, during a period of public order and industrial disputes, Jewish shops across the South Wales coalfield were damaged by mobs. Since that time
8568-417: The Welsh trace, on average, 58% of their ancestry to the Brittonic people, up to 22% from a Danish-like source interpreted as largely representing the Anglo-Saxons, 3% from Norwegian Vikings, and 13% from further south in Europe such as Italy , to a lesser extent, Spain and can possibly be related to French immigration during the Norman period. A 2015 genetic survey of modern British population groups found
8694-463: The acclamation of several usurpers in quick succession as imperator , a declaration of rebellion against the ruling emperor . The last of these, Constantine III , crossed the Channel at Bononia and took with him all of the mobile troops left in Britain, thus denuding the province of any first line military protection. The Roman forces in Gaul (modern France) declared for him, followed by most of those in Hispania (modern Spain). On 31 December 406
8820-403: The accuracy of these is uncertain. Numerous later written sources claim to provide accurate accounts of the period. The first to attempt this was the monk Bede , writing in the early 8th century. He based his account of the Sub-Roman period in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (written around 731) heavily on Gildas, though he tried to provide dates for the events Gildas describes. It
8946-401: The acquisition of Welsh is a gateway to better careers, according to research from the Welsh Language Board and Careers Wales. The Welsh Government identified media as one of six areas likely to experience greater demand for Welsh speakers: the sector is Wales's third-largest revenue earner. Although Welsh is a minority language , and thus threatened by the dominance of English, support for
9072-476: The ancestry of the modern-day English population contained substantial contributions from the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic peoples. Various dates have been proposed to mark the end of Roman Britain , including the end of Roman currency coinage importation in 402, Constantine III 's rebellion in 407, the rebellion mentioned by Zosimus in 409, and the Rescript of Honorius in 410. Unlike modern decolonisation ,
9198-430: The costs of occupation. Nevertheless, the Romans were forced to keep three or four legions, 30,000 to 40,000 men with auxiliary units in place to defend it. They managed fairly well until the collapse of Roman authority after the garrison was reduced in size by Magnus Maximus in 388 and Stilicho in 401. It seems that after 350 the Roman government was having more difficulty in recruiting soldiers. In an effort to remedy
9324-642: The countries studied having at least partial Welsh ancestry. Over 300,000 Welsh people live in London . The names "Wales" and "Welsh" are modern descendants of the Anglo-Saxon word wealh , a descendant of the Proto-Germanic word walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Gaulish people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer indiscriminately to inhabitants of the Roman Empire . The Old English -speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use
9450-469: The dating of the end of Roman Britain is complex, and the exact process is unknown. There is some controversy as to why Roman rule ended in Britain. The view first advocated by Theodor Mommsen was that Rome left Britain. This argument was substantiated over time, most recently by A.S. Esmonde-Cleary. According to this argument, internal turmoil in the Roman Empire and the need to withdraw troops to fight off barbarian armies led Rome to abandon Britain. It
9576-452: The discontinuity in the episcopate also suggests a decline in town life. The Roman villa system, represented by some five hundred archaeological sites, did not survive either; unlike Gaul, in Britain not a single villa name survived into the Germanic period. However, at Chedworth , building work continued: a mosaic within Room 28, discovered in 2020, was designed and created in the middle of
9702-447: The domination of Anglian or Saxon chieftains, later kingdoms: Officially the Roman Empire was Christian at the start of the 5th century, but there is evidence of rural pagan temples being refurbished at the start of this period in western England. However, most temples seem to have been replaced eventually by Christian churches on the same site or nearby. "Celtic" churches or monasteries seem to have flourished during this period in
9828-616: The early 19th century, and founded towns in Labrador 's coast region; in 1819, the ship Albion left Cardigan for New Brunswick , carrying Welsh settlers to Canada; on board were 27 Cardiganian families, many of whom were farmers. In 1852, Thomas Benbow Phillips of Tregaron established a settlement of about 100 Welsh people in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Internationally Welsh people have emigrated, in relatively small numbers (in proportion to population, Irish emigration to
9954-404: The eastern river valleys. Later civil wars seem to have broken out, which have been interpreted either as being between pro-Roman and independence groups or between "Established Church" and Pelagian parties (Myres 1965, Morris 1965), a class struggle between peasants and land owners (Thompson 1977, Wood 1984), or a coup by an urban elite (Snyder 1988). A recent view explored by Laycock ( Britannia
10080-514: The economy. The evidence from land use suggests a decline in production, which might be a sign of population decline. It is clear that some British people migrated to elsewhere in Europe, and Armorica in northwest Gaul became known as Brittany . There is also evidence of British migration to Gallaecia , in Hispania . The dates of these migrations are uncertain, but recent studies suggest that
10206-443: The end of sub-Roman Britain have been described by Richard Reece as "decline and immigration" and "invasion and displacement". It has long been held that the Anglo-Saxons migrated to Britain in large numbers in the 5th and 6th centuries, substantially displacing the British people. The Anglo-Saxon historian Frank Stenton in 1943, although making considerable allowance for British survival, essentially sums up this view, arguing "that
10332-535: The extent to which life in Britain continued unaltered in certain pockets into the early medieval period. Hilltops, the so-called " hillforts ", castra , and monasteries have been excavated. Work on towns has been particularly important. Work on the hill-forts has shown evidence of refurbishment, and also of overseas trade, in this period. One of the earliest major excavations was at Tintagel (Radford 1939). This uncovered rectangular structures and much Mediterranean pottery. The buildings were initially interpreted as
10458-476: The first time ever in British census history the 2011 Census gave the opportunity for people to describe their identity as Welsh or English. A 'dress rehearsal' of the Census was carried out on the Welsh island of Anglesey because of its rural nature and its high numbers of Welsh speakers. The Census, taken on 27 March 2011, asked a number of questions relating to nationality and national identity, including What
10584-479: The greater part of southern England was overrun in the first phase of the war". This interpretation was based on the written sources, particularly Gildas but also the later sources such as the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede , that cast the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons as a violent event. The toponymic and linguistic evidence was also considered to support this interpretation, as very few British place names survived in eastern Britain, very few British Celtic words entered
10710-475: The growing Welsh-medium schools of Cardiff itself) due to the centralisation and concentration of national resources and organisations in the capital. For some, speaking Welsh is an important part of their Welsh identity. Parts of the culture are strongly connected to the language — notably the Eisteddfod tradition, poetry and aspects of folk music and dance. Wales also has a strong tradition of poetry in
10836-451: The growing season and made uplands unsuited to growing grain . Dendrochronology reveals a particular climatic event in 540 . Michael Jones suggests that declining agricultural production from land that was already fully exploited had considerable demographic consequences. Slaves were important in the economy and the army in the Roman Empire. Estimates for the prevalence of slavery in the Roman Empire vary: some estimate that around 30% of
10962-531: The history of Britain, but the earlier part (for which other sources are available) is severely muddled. He castigates five rulers in western Britain – Constantine of Dumnonia , Aurelius Caninus, Vortipor of the Demetae , Cuneglasus and Maglocunus ( Mailcun or in later spelling Maelgwn of Gwynedd ) – for their sins. He also attacks the British clergy. He gives information on the British diet, dress and entertainment. He writes that Britons were killed, emigrated or enslaved but gives no idea of numbers. In
11088-420: The increase came in the coal mining districts; especially Glamorganshire , which grew from 71,000 in 1801 to 232,000 in 1851 and 1,122,000 in 1911. Part of this increase can be attributed to the demographic transition seen in most industrialising countries during the Industrial Revolution , as death rates dropped and birth rates remained steady. However, there was also a large-scale migration into Wales during
11214-641: The issue. As many as a third of all properties in Gwynedd are bought by people from outside Wales. The issue of locals being priced out of the local housing market is common to many rural communities throughout Britain, but in Wales the added dimension of language complicates the issue, as many new residents do not learn the Welsh language. A Plaid Cymru taskforce headed by Dafydd Wigley recommended land should be allocated for affordable local housing, called for grants for locals to buy houses, and recommended that council tax on holiday homes should double. However,
11340-429: The language grew during the second half of the 20th century, along with the rise of Welsh nationalism in the form of groups such as the political party Plaid Cymru and Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society). The language is used in the bilingual Welsh Parliament (Senedd) and entered on its records, with English translation. The high cost of translation from English to Welsh has proved controversial. In
11466-598: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, a small wave of contract miners from Wales arrived in Northern France; the centres of Welsh-French population are in coal mining towns, and particularly the French department of Pas-de-Calais along with miners from many other countries. They tended to cluster in communities around their churches. Settlers from Wales (and later Patagonian Welsh) arrived in Newfoundland in
11592-559: The late 6th century there was another period of Saxon expansion, starting with the capture of Searoburh in 552 by the dynasty that later ruled Wessex , and including entry into the Cotswolds area after the Battle of Deorham (577), though the accuracy of the entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for this period has been questioned. These conquests are often said by modern writers, on no clear evidence, to have separated
11718-424: The management of the kingdoms. This reintroduced British culture to those parts of Britain lost to the British politically. The epitome of this process is the adoption of the legendary British war leader, King Arthur , as the national hero of the English, due to the literary work of Welsh historians. There is evidence for climate change in the 5th century, with conditions turning cooler and wetter. This shortened
11844-524: The mid 19th century, and it is thought that Cardiff's Yemeni community is Britain's oldest Muslim community, established when the city was one of the world's largest coal exporting ports. Hinduism and Buddhism each have about 5,000 adherents in Wales, with the rural county of Ceredigion being the centre of Welsh Buddhism. Govinda 's temple and restaurant, run by the Hare Krishnas in Swansea ,
11970-418: The migration from south western Britain to Brittany may have begun as early as 300 and had largely ended by 500. These settlers, unlikely to be refugees if the date was this early, made their presence felt in the naming of the westernmost, Atlantic -facing provinces of Armorica, Kerne/Cornouaille ("Kernow/ Cornwall ") and Domnonea (" Devon "). However, there is clear linguistic evidence for close contact between
12096-562: The past the rules of the British Parliament forbade the use of Welsh in any proceedings. Only English was allowed as the only language all members were assumed to speak. In 2017, the UK government agreed to support the use of Welsh in the Welsh Grand Committee, although not in parliamentary debate in the house outside of this committee. In 2018 Welsh was used in the grand committee for the first time. Welsh as
12222-618: The peoples of southern Britain; all were called Britons and spoke Common Brittonic , a Celtic language . This language, and Celtic culture more generally, seems to have arrived in Britain during the Iron Age , though some archaeologists argue that there is no evidence for large-scale Iron Age migrations into Great Britain, in which case the Celticisation of Britain would have occurred through cultural diffusion. Most people in Wales today regard themselves as modern Celts , claiming
12348-470: The period been undertaken. Later Lives of Celtic saints, although often unreliable, do provide some insights into life in Sub-Roman Britain. For example, there is a description of a dilapidated, but still occupied, Roman villa near Chepstow (probably at Portskewett ) included in an account of a visit by St Tatheus ; and the Roman ruins of Carlisle , as they were in 685, are described in
12474-585: The period. Archaeology has confirmed Germanic burials at Bowcombe and Gatcombe on the Isle of Wight that took place at least 50 years before the dates suggested by historical sources, concurrent with Honorius 's award of land in Gallia Aquitania to the Visigoths in 418. Although radiocarbon dating can provide a rough estimate, this is not accurate enough to associate archaeological finds with historical events. Dendrochronology depends on
12600-591: The period. Archaeology has shown some evidence of continuity with Roman education , trade with the Mediterranean , and with Celtic art . Archaeological excavations in South Wales in 2023 sought evidence of an early medieval monastery and school said to have been founded by St Illtud in the early 6th century, the forerunner of St Illtyd's Church, Llantwit Major (c.1100). Excavations of settlements have revealed possible changes in social structures, and
12726-582: The population of the Empire in the 1st century was enslaved. A more recent study suggests 10–15% even for the early empire "as any greater estimate would require implausible levels of transformation in a pre-modern context." The difference the lower percentage in the Later Roman Empire can be attributed to fewer slaves in sub-elite households and agricultural estates (replaced by a great expansion in various types of tenancy). The Germanic region
12852-644: The predominant language in parts of Wales, particularly in North Wales and parts of West Wales. According to the 2001 census the number of Welsh speakers in Wales increased for the first time in 100 years, with 20.5% of a population of over 2.9 million claiming fluency in Welsh. In addition, 28% of the population of Wales claimed to understand Welsh. The census revealed that the increase was most significant in urban areas, such as Cardiff with an increase from 6.6% in 1991 to 10.9% in 2001, and Rhondda Cynon Taf with an increase from 9% in 1991 to 12.3% in 2001. However,
12978-408: The presence of suitable pieces of wood. Coins are often the most useful tool for dating, but no newly minted coins are believed to have entered circulation in Britain after the very early 5th century. There is archaeological evidence of Anglo-Saxons and Britons living on the same site. For example, in the cemetery at Wasperton , Warwickshire , one can see a family adopting Anglo-Saxon culture over
13104-754: The proportion of Welsh speakers declined in Gwynedd from 72.1% in 1991 to 68.7% in 2001, to 65.4% in 2011 and 64.4% in 2021. Similarly, in Ceredigion the percentage fell from 59.1% in 1991 to 51.8% in 2001, to 47.3% in 2011 and to 45.3% in 2021. Ceredigion saw a 19.5% influx of new residents between 1991 and 2001. The decline in Welsh speakers in much of rural Wales is attributable to non-Welsh-speaking residents moving to North Wales, driving up property prices above what locals may afford, according to former Gwynedd county councillor Seimon Glyn of Plaid Cymru , whose controversial comments in 2001 focused attention on
13230-539: The reference was instead to Bruttium , but Gildas describes Britain receiving just such a message. The Gallic chronicles, Chronica Gallica of 452 and Chronica Gallica of 511 , say prematurely that "Britain, abandoned by the Romans, passed into the power of the Saxons" and provide information about St Germanus and his visit or visits to Britain, though again this text has received considerable academic deconstruction. The work of Procopius , another 6th-century Byzantine writer, makes some references to Britain, though
13356-674: The region; the town was thus named Yuzovka (Юзовка) in recognition of his role in its founding ("Yuz" being a Russian or Ukrainian approximation of Hughes). Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was born in Barry, Wales. After she suffered from bronchopneumonia as a child, her parents were advised that it would aid her recovery to live in a warmer climate. This led the family to migrate to Australia in 1966, settling in Adelaide. Sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain
13482-513: The results. The foot-and-mouth crisis delayed the 2001 United Kingdom general election ; the first time since the Second World War that any event had postponed an election. In the census, 14% of the population took the 'extra step' to write in that they were of Welsh ethnicity. The highest percentage of those identifying as of Welsh ethnicity was recorded in Gwynedd (at 27%), followed by Carmarthenshire (23%), Ceredigion (22%) and
13608-578: The same census shows that 25% of residents were born outside Wales. The number of Welsh speakers in other places in Britain is uncertain, but there are significant numbers in the main cities, and there are speakers along the Welsh-English border . Even among Welsh speakers, very few people speak only Welsh, with nearly all being bilingual in English. However, a large number of Welsh speakers are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. Some prefer to speak English in South Wales or
13734-454: The site of Ninian 's monastery). Chance discoveries have helped document the continuing urban occupation of some Roman towns such as Wroxeter and Caerwent . Continued urban use might be associated with an ecclesiastical structure. Western Britain has attracted those archaeologists who wish to place King Arthur as a historical figure. Though there is little contemporary written evidence for this, archaeological evidence does suggest that
13860-480: The situation it resorted to payment instead of provision of recruit, the aurum tironicum . Landowners could pay a set fee to prevent any of their tenants from being pressed into the army (slaves were rarely resorted to even at critical moments in exchange for their freedom). Not enough men wanted to enter military service. The gold from the tax led to a greater use of Germanic or other tribal groups who did not need to be expensively equipped, housed, and paid pensions, as
13986-570: The situation that had developed between the Anglo-Saxons and the Britons . More continental contemporary sources mention Britain, although their information is sparse and open to question. The Historia Nova of Byzantine scholar Zosimus notes in passing that western Emperor Honorius , in the throes of Alaric 's invasion in 410, sent a rescript to British cities that they must look to their own defence. Some historians have suggested that
14112-544: The south west of Britain and Brittany across the sub-Roman period. In Galicia , in the north west corner of the Iberian Peninsula , another region of traditional Celtic culture, the Suebian Parochiale , drawn up about 580, includes a list of the principal churches of each diocese in the metropolitanate of Braga : the ecclesia Britonensis , now Bretoña (north of Lugo ), which was the seat of
14238-404: The southeast, are known, nor are the details of their political development; some authority structures left from the Roman period may have continued in charge of some areas for some time. At times some of the kingdoms were united by a ruler who was an overlord, while wars occurred between others. During the period the boundaries are likely to have changed. The major ones were: Some areas fell under
14364-627: The supposed apostle to the Britons of the Clyde and alleged founder of Glasgow , is a shadowy figure. Linguistics is useful in the analysis of culture, and to an extent political associations. Bede in Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (completed in 731) wrote that "currently, [there are in Britain] the languages of five peoples, namely that of the Angles ( English ), the Britons ( Brittonic ),
14490-452: The tax was used to recruit mercenaries as foederati , but it also drained the treasury. Previously foreigners were put into units, the auxilia , officered by Romans. Roman army units, the smaller Later Roman legions , continued to exist but gradually disappeared in the 5th century leaving defence of the Empire to hirelings. After the Battle of Adrianople , the Gothic foederati , by
14616-541: The term to refer to the Britons in particular. As the Britons' territories shrank, the term came ultimately to be applied to a smaller group of people, and the plural form of Wealh , Wēalas , evolved into the name for the territory that best maintained cultural continuity with pre-Anglo-Saxon Britain: Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Wallonia , Wallachia , Valais , Vlachs , and Włochy ,
14742-528: The urbanised areas and Welsh in the North or in rural areas. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Due to an increase in Welsh-language nursery education, recent census data reveals a reversal of decades of linguistic decline: there are now more Welsh speakers under five years of age than over 60. For many young people in Wales,
14868-442: The west. There are also Celtic river names and topographical names. An explanation of the toponymic and linguistic evidence is that Anglo-Saxon language and culture became dominant due to their political and social preeminence in the south and east of Britain. Names with a Latin element may suggest continuity of settlement, while some places are named for pagan Germanic deities. Names of British origin may or may not indicate survival of
14994-515: Was an apostate Pict king who was the recipient of the letter from Saint Patrick . His base may have been Dumbarton Rock on the River Clyde, and his descendant Rhydderch Hael is named in the Life of Saint Columba . Rhydderch was a contemporary of Áedán mac Gabráin of Dal Riata and Urien of Rheged in the late 6th century, as well as of Æthelfrith of Bernicia . Unlike Columba, Kentigern ,
15120-538: Was immigration to Wales after the Norman Conquest , and several Normans encouraged immigration to their new lands; the Landsker Line dividing the Pembrokeshire "Englishry" and "Welshry" is still detectable today. The terms Englishry and Welshry are used similarly about Gower . Recent research on ancient DNA has concluded that much of Britain's Neolithic population was replaced by Beaker people in
15246-536: Was never universal – Edward Gibbon believed that there had been a great deal of British survival – it was the dominant paradigm. Though many scholars would now employ this argument, the traditional view is still held by many other historians, Lawrence James writing in 2002 that England was "submerged by an Anglo-Saxon current which swept away the Romano-British." The traditional view has been partly deconstructed (considerably in some circles) since
15372-456: Was one of the main sources of slaves. It was mainly wholesale dealers, who followed the Roman armies, who sold slaves. After the Empire expanded, there were fewer places to obtain slaves. Around 210, piracy increased around the North Sea and boosted the supply, taken from villages in that area, along with those captured for ransom. Britain was not easily defensible. It did not pay completely
15498-607: Was reported as common for an officiant to walk in front of the coffin with a horse's skull, which may be a tradition linked with the Mari Lwyd tradition. The Welsh language is in the Insular Celtic family; historically spoken throughout Wales, with its predecessor Common Brittonic once spoken throughout most of the island of Great Britain. Prior to the 20th century, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh, with little or no fluent knowledge of English. Welsh remains
15624-500: Was the collapse of the imperial system that led to the end of imperial rule in Britain. However, Michael Jones has advanced an alternative thesis that argues that Rome did not leave Britain, but that Britain left Rome. He highlights the numerous usurpers who came from Britain in the late 4th and early 5th centuries, and points out that the supply of coinage to Britain had dried up by the early 5th century, so that administrators and troops were not getting paid. All of this, he argues, led
15750-509: Was won by King Arthur , though Gildas does not identify him. After this there was a long period of peace. The British seem to have been in control of England and Wales roughly west of a line from York to Bournemouth . The Saxons had control of eastern areas in an arc from East Yorkshire through Lincolnshire and perhaps Nottinghamshire , to East Anglia and South East England . Writing in Latin, perhaps about 540, Gildas gives an account of
15876-706: Was written from an anti-Briton point of view. Later sources, such as the Historia Brittonum often attributed to Nennius , the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (again written from a non-Briton point of view, based on West Saxon sources) and the Annales Cambriae , are all heavily shrouded in myth and can only be used with caution as evidence for this period. There are also documents giving Welsh poetry (of Taliesin and Aneirin ) and land deeds ( Llandaff charters ) that appear to date back to
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