WALES, a principality of Great Britain, lies on the west side of that Island, between 51° 20' and 53' 25' N. lat., 2° 41' and 4° 56' W. long. It is bounded W. and N. by St. George's Channel ; E. by the English counties of Cheater, Salop, Hereford, and Monmouth ; and S. and S.E. by the Bristol Channel. Its greatest length from north to south is about ISO miles, and its breadth from east to west varies from 50 to 80 miles. It contains 4,793,975 statute acres, or 7398 square miles. The population of the principality in 1841 was 911,705; in 1851 it was 1,005,721. The general physical features of Wales are given in detail in the article GREAT BRITAIN.
The history of the island of Great Britain previous to and during the period of the Roman domination, is given in the article BarraNst,a; and as there are no materials for a history of Wales during that period distinct from the narrative of events in the island generally, we shall refer to that article and to ENOLAND, and proceed to give briefly tho principal events connected with Wales from the time of tho establish ment of the Saxons, Angles, and other tribes in England, by which the ancient inhabitants of the island were gradually driven to the west.
Down to the Roman conquest the Welsh, under a variety of princes, were engaged in almost constant warfare with the Saxons and Angles. During the Gth and 7th centuries the country appears to have been divided into a number of petty kingdoms or principalities. As many as 14 co-existing kingdoms are mentioned. lu the commencement of the 7th century, Ethelfrith, king of Bernicis, and the grandson of Ida, attacked the Welsh, assembled under Broehmael, king of Powys, and gained a decisive victory. About the same time Ceolwalph, from Wessex, penetrated into the province of Glamorgan; but the inhabit ants, under Tewdric, their former king, drove the invaders across the Severn. Edwin, sovereign of Deira and Bernicia, subdued Anglesey and a considerable part of North Wales, and drove Cadwallon, the sovereign of North Wales, and whose father bad been the protector of Edwin in early life, into Ireland. Cadwallon defeated and clew Edwin
In 633, and penetrated into and desolated Northumbria. Successful iu 14 great battles and 60 skirmishes, Cadwallon was regarded by the Cymri or Welsh as the deliverer of their country. He was however slain, with the flower of his army, in an engagement with Oswald of Northumbria.
Ethelbald, king of Mercia, in the early part of the 8th century, uniting with the king of Wessex, overpowered the Welsh. Dissensions between Mercia and Wessex led to a successful confederation between Roderic) Molwynoc, the Welsh leader, and Cuthred, king of Wessex, against the king of Marcia, whom they defeated at Hereford. Cuthrod in turn took up arms against and defeated the Welsh, and in 753 Roderic Molwynoo withdrew into North Wales. Towards the end of the 8th century the Mercians =acceded in driving the Welsh from the border territory, and Offa, king of Marcia, made an artificial boundary from the mouth of the river Dee on the north to the river Wye on the south, known by the name of Clawdd Offs, or Offa's Dyke, traces of which are still to be found along a great part of the line. Roderic, who had acquired the sovereignty of nearly all Wales, in 813 divided his dominions into three principalities, to which his three sons succeeded. One of these principalities was called by the Welsh, Gwynedd, and corresponded nearly to the present North Wales ; another, Ceredigion and Dyved, or South Wales; and the third, Powys, comprising parts of Montgomeryshire, Shropshire, and Radnorshire. Early in the 10th century these three subdivisions of Wales became reunited tinder the sceptre of one king, Bowel, who was surnamed Dda, the Good. lie appears to have been an excellent king, and he reformed and digested the laws of his country. At a subsequent period Wales was divided into two principalities, North and South Wales, but the former seems to have had some predominance over the latter. During all these changes, however, some districts appear to have had their separate petty princes.