Why is the heir to the throne of the United Kingdom traditionally called the Prince of Wales? The answer lies in the history of conflict and collaboration between medieval kings of England and the fractious princes who ruled a patchwork of territories in western Britain.
Wales was never a united principality, let alone a kingdom, yet it still maintains a distinct cultural and linguistic identity more than seven centuries after being conquered by Edward I, the first English ruler to designate his son as the Prince of Wales. Historian Jennifer Paxton tells the fascinating story of how the Welsh developed a unified identity despite a history of warring regional dynasties and political domination by their much larger neighbor.
Welsh national sentiment crystallized around the shadowy figure of King Arthur, who would supposedly return to rescue the Welsh from the English, and Welsh resistance to conquest played a pivotal role in major English political struggles, such as the crisis of Magna Carta under King John and the Wars of the Roses, which ironically led to a Welsh family, the Tudors, taking the English throne.
Learn how Wales played an important role in the way that Shakespeare’s audience understood their own medieval past, and how the Welsh rediscovered their medieval roots as part of the Celtic Revival movements of the 18th and 19th centuries. Paxton explores the story of conquest, revolt, and consolidation that led to the present, when Welsh nationalism is arguably stronger than ever.
Paxton is a clinical associate professor of history and director of the University Honors Program at The Catholic University of America.
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