Originally Posted by
Squeamous
That's nice Mr Mulder......you're not blonde are you?
If he was he
/so would
Wales was a collection of princedoms until it was forcibly absorbed under the English crown in the late 13th century. They were not willing participants.
They clearly were of a separate land with different language culture and tradition. Much of this has remained (especially the leek/sheep thing which it is best not to speak of). Their current legal status in terms of whether they are or not a sparate country is moot. The terms of Edward's conquest of Wales were not favourable and these have cascaded down into latter legal documents. That said similar attempts to control the Irish were made and they stuck rather less well and no one would dispute that the Republic is a separate country. Edward failed to conquer Scotland and the settlements of the 18th century preserved Scotland's separate status rather more clearly than those governing Wales and Ireland (albeit Ireland broke cleanly away in the early 20th century).
I am a bit pished after the Scotland game and the electric "CLEAR" things applied after the missed Italian kick at the end have left me a bit woozy so to recap...
Wales is by any language/culture definition a separate land. English people view it as a quite alien place - having in lived in Bath for a number of years I know just how alien they think it is. Legally Wales has been tied to England through conquest but 13th century avaricious kings are no basis for government and it wouldn't take the international legal eagles long to untie those knots if the Welsh people chose that route.
Does that make sence?
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