MORNING SERIAL
VIKING raids and incessant internal pillage, plunder and political turmoil were not conducive to trade or urban life and Wales remained relatively poor and without any major urban centre. In contrast, through trade and politics, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex became a powerful military and economic unit. Gradually, it overcame both the Vikings and other English kingdoms and formed a new Kingdom of England.
The gradual unification of England – which began in the ninth century under Alfred in response to the external Viking threat – had profound significance for the people of the land of Wales. It cemented their sense of cultural difference to those to the east and made the dreams of a recovery of control over Britain unlikely.
But both the Welsh and English were Christian and that gave them something in common in the face of raids by pagan Norsemen. Moreover, even before English unification, the Anglo-Saxon rulers were beginning to believe themselves as having a claim of sorts on the land of Wales. None tried to conquer Wales but by the 10th century the most powerful AngloSaxon rulers regarded themselves as some sort of British head king and they expected the Welsh to acknowledge this hierarchy. In 927, Hywel Dda, despite ruling most of Wales outside the south-east, submitted to Aethelstan, king of Wessex, acknowledging him as his overlord. This won him a new ally against both his Welsh rivals and the external Viking threat that plagued the Welsh coast. Indeed, throughout the medieval period, English influence over Wales would owe much to it being invited by Welsh rulers seeking an advantage over their compatriots.
It was through marriage and war that Hywel Dda had come to rule all Wales except for organnwg. But this was a rare moment of relative political unity for Wales. A century later, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd, took Deheubarth and then Morgannwg through force, killing those who opposed him and those who might.
> Wales: England’s Colony? by Martin Johnes is published by Parthian in the Modern Wales series www.parthianbooks.com