Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009
Thus the Venetian envoy wrote in his ‘Relation’ a few years after Henry Tudor's accession. The history of Tudor policy in Wales has often been interpreted by way of commentary on this assumption, that Henry Tudor, born at Pembroke Castle and descended from the family of Penmynydd, Anglesey, was considered a Welshman and was himself conscious of this heritage. The Welsh origins of the dynasty have been invoked by historians in the past to explain the relative success of its rule in Wales. Both the so-called ‘union’ with England and the reception of the Reformation were achievements in state and church which have been attributed to the general popularity of the dynasty in Wales and to the favour in which the Tudors (particularly the two Henrys and Elizabeth) regarded their Welsh subjects.
1 ‘…quantunque possimo dire d'havere recuperata l'antica loro signoria, perché il sapientissimo e fortunatissimo Henrico vijo é Wallico…’, A Relation …of the Island of England, c.1500, ed. Sneyd, C. A. (Camden Society, xxxvii, 1847), p. 19Google Scholar. ‘Signoria’ here might be more accurately rendered as ‘authority’ or ‘dominion’ rather than ‘independence’.
2 The Description of Penbrokshire, part iii, ed. Owen, Henry (London, 1906), p. 37Google Scholar.
3 Anglo, Sidney, ‘The British History in Early Tudor Propaganda’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, xliv (1961), p. 17 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem, Spectacle, Pageantry, and Early Tudor Policy (Oxford, 1969), pp. 43–46. Cf. Kendrick, T. D., British Antiquity (London, 1950), esp. chapter 3 (‘The Tudor Cult of the British History’), pp. 34Google Scholar ff. Mr Anglo has cast doubt on the orthodoxy that there was a sustained revival of the cult of King Arthur in Henry's court, and he treats the claims for a Galfridian influence on Tudor ceremonial with the scepticism of another Polydore Vergil.
4 See, e.g., Skeel, C. A. J., ‘Wales under Henry VII’, in Tudor Studies, ed. Seton-Watson, R. W. (London, 1924Google Scholar).
5 Roberts, P. R., ‘The Acts of Union and the Tudor Settlement of Wales’ (unpublished Cambridge Ph.D. dissertation, 1966Google Scholar), chapter 1, passim.
6 Description of Penbrokshire, part in, pp. 38–39.
7 Wynne, W., The History of Wales (London, 1697), P. 325Google Scholar. Powel had printed a translation by Humphrey Lhuyd of Brut y Tywysogion (with a continuation of the history of Wales down to his own time) and of Sir John Price's Description of Wales. Powel acknowledged the help of Burghley in giving him access to official papers, but the thin contemporary section of the work shows little sign of their use. Wynne rewrote Powel’s additions for the edition of 1697.
8 Scarisbrick, J. J., Henry VIII (London, 1968), pp. 272–73Google Scholar.
9 27 Henry, VIII, c. 26: Statutes of the Realm, ed. Luders, A. et al. (London, 1810–1824), iii, p. 563Google Scholar. Cf. the preamble to Statuta Wallie, 12 Edward I; ibid., i. P. 55.
10 27 Henry VIII, c.24; ibid., iii, p. 555. This act speaks of the prerogatives of justice proper to the imperial crown which have been granted away by the king's progenitors, to the great detriment and diminution of the royal estate and the let and delay of justice. Another act of 1536 (27 Henry VIII, c. 5: ibid., iii, pp. 354–55) provided for the introduction of J.P.s and quarter sessions into the existing shires of Wales.
11 3 Edward I, c.17; 28 Edward III, c.2: ibid., i, pp. 31, 345.
12 Edwards, J. G., The Principality of Wales, 1267–1967: a study in constitutional history (Caernarvon, 1969), pp. 35–39Google Scholar. The point about the relation of the statute of 1536 to that of 1284 was first made by George Owen in his treatise of 1607: Cardiff City Library, MS. 2.88, fo. 53.
13 Stow, John, Annales, or a General Chronicle of England (London, 1631), P. 575Google Scholar) The Complete Peerage…by G. E. C[okayne], ed. Gibbs, V., iii (London, 1913), p. 444 and n.(b)Google Scholar. Letters & Papers, Foreign & Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, xii, part 2 (London, 1891), no. 921Google Scholar; ibid., xvi, no. 1208.
14 Powel, , Historie of Cambria, p. 396Google Scholar.
15 Cardiff City Library, MS. 2.88, fos. 51–57.
16 Letters & Papers…Henry VIII, xii, part 2, no. 986.
17 Public Record Office, Chancery Crown Office, precedent book no. 116, fos 13–15; Tudor Royal Proclamations, I: The Early Tudors (1485–1553), ed. Hughes, P. L. and Larkin, J. F. (London, 1964), pp. 250–55Google Scholar.
18 28 Henry, VIII, c. 7: Statutes of the Realm, iii, pp. 655–62Google Scholar.
19 He died on 22 July, four days after the end of this parliament: Letters & Papers …, x, no. 1069Google Scholar (Chapuys to Charles V, 6 June).
20 Roberts, P. R., op. cit., pp. 253–58Google Scholar; Calendar of the Caernarvonshire Quarter Sessions Records, i, 1541–1558, ed. Williams, W. Ogwen (Caernarvon, 1956), PP. 2 ffGoogle Scholar.
21 34&35 Henry, VIII, c. 26: Statutes of the Realm, iii, pp. 926–37Google Scholar.
22 British Museum, Cotton MS. Vitellius C i, fos. 39–44v.
23 Journals of the House of Lords, i, p. 199.
24 12 Edward, I, Stat. Wallie, c. 14: Statutes of the Realm, i, p. 68Google Scholar.
25 Pierce, T. Jones, ‘The Law of Wales—the last phase’, Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1963, p. 15Google Scholar.
26 The Chronicle and Political Papers of King Edward VI, ed. Jordan, W. K. (London, 1966), pp. 3–4Google Scholar.
27 Carr, C. T., Delegated Legislation (London, 1921), p. 51Google Scholar.
28 British Museum, Royal MS 18 A lxxvii (Arthur’s charter, 29 Nov. 1489); Rotuli Parliamentorum, vi, p. 532 (19 Henry, VIIGoogle Scholar, c. 10, refers to th e creation of Prince Henry to take place on 23 Feb. 1503/4).
29 Letters & Memorials of State…by Sir Henry Sidney, et al., ed. Collins, Arthur (London, 1746), i, p. 2Google Scholar.
30 Publi c Record Office, Charter roll no. 198, m. 3 (24 August 1483).
31 Jones, Francis, The Princes and Principality of Wales (Cardiff, 1969), pp. 130–40Google Scholar.
32 SirDoddridge, John, The History of the Ancient and Modern Estate of the Principality of Wales (London, 1630; 1714 edn), pp. 74–76Google Scholar.
33 Coke, Edward, Institutes, part iv, cap. 47, p. 240Google Scholar.
34 21 James, I, cc. 10, 28: Statutes of the Realm, iv, part 2, pp. 1219, 1239Google Scholar.
35 Legal Status of the Welsh Language: Report of the Hughes Parry Committee (London, 1965), p. 9Google Scholar.
36 See the provision in the act for the ordinances of Calais, 1536: 27 Henry, VIII, c. 63 (Statutes of the Realm, iii, p. 648)Google Scholar.
37 British Museum, Titus MS. B ix, fo. i n; Letters &> Papers, x, no. 1030 (Parliament held on 1 May 1536, before Lord Leonard Grey, Deputy to the king an d to Henry, Duke of Richmond).
38 See, e.g., Jarman, A. O. H., ‘Wales a part of England, 1485–1800’, in The Historical Basis of Welsh Nationalism, ed. Lloyd, D. M. (Cardiff, 1929), p. 136Google Scholar.
39 An Elizabethan coroner an d J. P. of Radnorshire was brought before the court of Star Chamber on a charge of having bribed his way to office, for which he was anyway unqualified under the provision of the act of 1536. Only the bill of complaint survives: A Catalogue of Star Chamber Proceedings relating to Wales, ed. I, . ab Edwards, O. (Cardiff, 1929), p. 136Google Scholar.
40 William Owen of Henllys, father of George Owen, had published the earliest printed edition of the common law in 1521 and 1528: Lloyd, J. E., Jenkins, R. T. et al. , Dictionary of Welsh Biography (London, 1959), p. 723Google Scholar. Cf. Twyne, Thomas, The Breviary of Britayne (London, 1573), p. 60Google Scholar.
41 Williams, W. O., ‘The Survival of the Welsh Language after the Union of England and Wales: the first phase, 1536–1642’, Welsh History Review, ii (1964), pp. 67–93Google Scholar.
42 An English primer was authorized by a proclamation of 6 May 1545 (Tudor Royal Proclamations, i, pp. 349–50Google Scholar); presumably Price's Welsh compilation was also officially countenanced, though there is no record to this effect. Evans, A. O., A Memorandum on the Legality of the Welsh Bible, and the Welsh version of the Book of Common Prayer (Cardiff, 1925), p. 20Google Scholar. W. Salesbury in 1551 published Kynniver Llith a ban, a translation of the epistles and gospels, but there is no indication that this was authorized. The Acts of Uniformity in 1548 and 1551–52 (2 & 3 Edward VI, c. 1; 5 & 6 Edward VI, c. 1) made no provision for the translation of the Prayer Book into Welsh (although the Prayer Books of 1549 and 1552 also appeared in French versions for the benefit of the king’s subjects in the Channel Isles (Evans, A. O., op. cit., pp. 10–11Google Scholar, 19). The Act of Uniformity in 1559 provided only for an English version of the liturgy; the Welsh translation authorized under the act of 1563 appeared in May 1567, the work of Richard Davies.
43 A Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe moche necessary to all suche Welshmen as wil spedly learne the Englyshe tongue … Cf. D. R. Thomas. The Life and Work of Bishop Davies and William Salesbury (Oswestry, 1902), p. 67Google Scholar and n. 1. This cites the patent granted to Salesbury and the printer John Waley, at Westminster, 13 Dec. 1545, which is however not to be found among the grants listed for Dec. 1545 in Letters & Papers, xx, part 2, no. 1068.
44 Williams, Glanmor, ‘The Achievement of William Salesbury’, in Welsh Reformation Essays (Cardiff, 1967), p. 194Google Scholar.
45 Morgan adde d the significant comment on the work of his predecessors, that the people were already familiarizing themselves with English by comparing the different versions of th e New Testament. Evans, A. O., Legality of the Welsh Bible, pp. 133–34Google Scholar (translation from th e Latin).
46 This was acknowledged by both Salesbury and Price in the prefaces to their respective publications of 1546/7.
47 Elizabeth, , c. 28: Statutes of the Realm, iv, part 1, p. 2457Google Scholar.
48 Lords Journals, i, pp. 611–13Google Scholar; Journals of the House of Commons, i, pp. 66–67Google Scholar, 71–72.
49 Williams, W. O., ‘The Survival of the Welsh Language’, pp. 87–88Google Scholar; Davies, R. R., ‘Twilight of the Welsh Law, 1284–1536’, History, li (1966), p. 164Google Scholar.
50 Harrison, William, Description of England, ed. Edelen, G. (Ithaca, N.Y., 1968), pp. 415–16Google Scholar.
51 McKisack, May, Medieval History in the Tudor Age (Oxford, 1971), pp. 29Google Scholar, 31.
52 A copy of the Welsh New Testament of 1567 survives in the Parker collection in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (Small Parker 90). There are some Welsh marginalia in a contemporary hand which attribute certain key passages in the bishop’s address (including the first, quoted in part below, n. 53) to Salesbury. For an interpretation of its historiography, see Williams, Glanmor, ‘Some Protestant Views of Early British Church History’, in Welsh Reformation Essays, pp. 207–19Google Scholar.
53 ‘Paid ath ddigenhedlu, paid ath ddifrawy, paid ac edrych ir llawr, tremia i vyny tu ar lie ich hanyw …’ (a. iii): translated in Evans, A. O., Legality of the Welsh Bible, pp. 83–84Google Scholar.
54 Twyne, Thomas, Breviary of Britayne, is a translation of Lhuyd’s Commentarioli Descriptionis Britannicae (Cologne, 1572Google Scholar). Twyne and Powel were the editors of descriptions of Wales by Lhuyd and Sir John Price, both of whom wrote defences of the ‘British History’. Kendrick, , British Antiquity, pp. 87–88Google Scholar.
55 Gruffydd, R. G., ‘Wales and the Renaissance’, in Wales through the Ages, ed. Roderick, A. J. (Llandybie, 1960), pp. 45–53Google Scholar. Cf. Jones, R. F., The Triumph of the English Language (Stanford, 1966)Google Scholar, chapters iii and iv, passim.
56 Williams, , Welsh Reformation Essays, pp. 213—16Google Scholar.
57 Haller, William, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and the Elect Nation (London, 1963), passim, esp. pp. 149 ff., 224 ffGoogle Scholar.
58 Williams, G., ‘Language, Literacy and Nationality in Wales’, History, lvi (1971), PP. 3–7Google Scholar.
59 Williams, W. O., ‘The Survival of the Welsh Language,’ pp. 85–86Google Scholar.