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The Welsh Borders or Marches
The border country in England close to Wales has had a chequered history. It was once Wales right up to the river Severn, a natural barrier, but the English couldn't leave it at that and constantly pressed the Welsh back until the mountains stood between them. This left land vulnerable to attack and repossession by the Welsh, so a number of Lords were given parcels of land in the area and built castles from which to defend it. The Lords assembled small armies and patrolled the land between the castles to ensure no Welsh recaptured it, they became known as the Marcher Lords, and the land they marched across was known as the Marches, it remains so to this day [some visitors think it's a spelling mistake and should be marshes, but this isn't marshy country! Remnants of the castles still exist; in some instances still almost intact, in others a pile of stone and perhaps a small piece of wall are all that's left. Being Lords, they became bored with just marching about aimlessly, so battles broke out between Lords, sometimes these were large with many dead and they went down in history as important events, although basically they were just blood letting between Lords who had too many possessions and wanted more. Their serfs were the ones who died in battle, rarely their masters. The Welsh, the original Britons, were beaten back to behind the mountains when once they had ruled over much of England too. Owen Glendower [Owain Glyn Dŵr, which means Owen of the Glen of Dee Water], a descendent of the Princes of Powys, was born about the year 1354, the exact date is unknown, and died around 1416, again, exact date unknown. He claimed descent from Llewelyn the Great and the ruling princes of Wales, and made Leominster his base at one time from which he fought the English - he was never caught and remained an outlaw at large for many years. The Tudors, or Tewdwr, a Welsh family related to Owen, eventually took over the crown of Britain, their dynasty lasted 118 years, from 1485 to 1603 and gave us Henry VIII. As with legend of King Arthur, Welsh legend says that if Wales is ever threatened again, Owen will rise in order to lead the defence. 2000 was the 600th anniversary of Owen's rising, commemorated throughout Wales. His personal standard (the quartered arms of Powys and Deheubarth rampant) is now to be seen all over Wales - especially at rugby matches against the English! A movement known as Meibion Glyndwr (sons of Glyndwr) grew up in Wales during the 1980s and 1990s, campaigning against the increasing number of second homes bought by English in rural areas raising the price of houses so that locally-born Welsh people couldn't afford them. Some of these second homes mysteriously caught fire. |
http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Wales-History/Glendower.htm
| http://www.walesonline.com/info/glyndwr.shtml
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