Welsh History

During his Welsh campaign, Henry II asked one of his allies what he thought the future of Wales would look like.

In 1157, Henry II of England opened a determined campaign to subdue Wales to the English crown. Resistance was strong: so much so that Wales was not finally subdued until 1282. According to Gerald de Barri (1146-1223), Bishop of St David’s, by 1163 Henry still felt sufficiently unsure of himself to ask one of his few Welsh allies what he thought of England’s chances.

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It rankled with Henry II that Wales did not pay to him the honour she had paid to his great-grandfather, William the Conqueror.

When Henry II came to the throne in 1154, Welsh princes no longer paid England the respect they had paid to his great-grandfather, William the Conqueror. But then one of them, Cadwallader, came and begged Henry to help win back his lands from his brother Owen Gwyneth. Henry saw his chance, and at a council in Northampton in July, 1157, resolved to march on North Wales.

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The popular monk was elected as bishop of Menevia in Wales in 550.

St David is the Patron Saint of Wales. His life shows just how closely connected the churches of Britain were to those of the Mediterranean world, even before the arrival of St Augustine of Canterbury in 597.

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St Dwynwen was a 5th century princess regarded by some as Wales’s answer to St Valentine.

St Dwynwen was 5th century royalty from the County of Brecon in Wales, who by thinking of others rather than herself won the grace of interceding for star-crossed lovers. Her feast day is January 25.

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