WALES, a country situated in the south-west part of Britain, into which the ancient Britons retired from the persecution of the Saxons. Anciently it was of greater extent than it is at present, and comprehended all the country beyond the Severn; that is, besides the twelve counties included in it at present, those of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, which now are reckoned a part of England, were then inhabited by three different tribes of the Britons, namely the Silures, the Dimetae, and the Ordovices. The Romans were never able to subdue them till the reign of Vespasian, when they were reduced by Julius Frontinus, who placed garrisons in their country to keep them in awe. Though the Saxons made themselves masters of all England, they never could get possession of Wales, except the counties of Monmouth and Hereford. About the year 870, Roderic king of Wales divided his territories among his three sons; and the names of these divisions were, De-metia, or South Wales; Povesia, or Powis-Land; and Ve-nedotia, or North Wales. Another division is afterwards mentioned in the records, viz. North Wales, South Wales, and West Wales; the last comprehending the counties of Monmouth and Hereford. The country derived the name of Wales, and the inhabitants that of Welsh, from the Saxons, who by those terms denote a country and people to which they are strangers; for the Welsh in their own language call their country Cymry, and their language Cymraeg. They continued under their own princes and laws from the above-mentioned period, and were never entirely subjected to the crown of England till the reign of Edward I., when Llewellin ap Gryffith, prince of Wales, lost both his life and dominions. Edward, the better to secure his conquest, and to reconcile the Welsh to a foreign yoke, sent his queen to lie in at Caernarvon, where she was delivered of a prince; to whom the Welsh, on that account, the more readily submitted. Ever since that time, the eldest sons of the kings of England have commonly been created princes of Wales, and as such enjoy certain revenues from that country.

Wales is bounded on all sides by the sea and the Severn, except on the east, where it joins to the counties of Chester, Salop, Hereford, and Monmouth. Its length, from the southernmost part of Glamorganshire to the extremity of Flintshire north, is computed at about 113 miles; and its breadth, from the river Wye east to St David’s in Pembrokeshire west, is nearly of the same dimensions, being about ninety miles.

After the conquest of Wales by Edward I. very material alterations were made in their laws, so as to reduce them nearer to the English standard, especially in the forms of their judicial proceedings; but they still retained very much of their original polity, particularly their rule of inheritance, viz. that their lands were equally divided among all the issue male, and did not descend to the eldest son alone. By other subsequent statutes their provincial immunities were still further abridged: but the finishing stroke to their dependency was given by the statute 27 Henry VIII. c. 26, which at the same time gave the utmost advancement to their civil prosperity, by admitting them to a thorough communication of laws with the subjects of England. Thus were this brave people gradually conquered into the enjoyment of true liberty; being insensibly put upon the same footing and made fellow-citizens with their conquerors.

It is enacted by 27 Hen. VIII. 1. That the dominions of Wales shall be for ever united to the kingdom of England. 2. That all Welshmen born shall have the same liberties as other king’s subjects. 3. That lands in Wales shall be inheritable according to the English tenures and rules of descent. 4. That the laws of England, and no other, shall be used in Wales; besides many other regulations of the police of this principality. And the 34th and 35th Hen. VIII. c. 26, confirms the same, adds further regulations, divides it into twelve shires, and in short reduces it to the same order in which it stands at this day; differing from the kingdom of England in only a few particulars. See England .