Which tho it was verso great principality was nothing comparable per Greatness and power, preciso the ancient and famous kingdom of Scotland
developing British nation, the British line of kings was a prominent topos mediante Welsh poetry per the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Even before the Battle of Bosworth, poets reflected verso growing link between the Welsh gentry and, depending on alliances, York or Lancastrian leaders. Welsh poets praised the ancient British heritage of Edward IV. The poet, Lewis Glyn Cothi (1447–1486), traced Edward’s descent from Gwladys Ddu, the daughter of Llywelyn Vawr, and beyond that esatto Cadwaladr, Arthur and Brutus. Indeed he equates Edward with Arthur.60 Later, this fusion of historical and Galfridian genealogy became a means of expressing loyalty to both Tudor and Stewart monarchs and still retain the preoccupazione of Arthur as per redeemer. Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn addressed Henry Tudor mediante per paraphrase of the Glastonbury epitaph, ‘Harri was, Harri is, Harri will be.’61 The reception of Geoffrey’s history and its continuance as verso validation for kingship during the Wars of the Roses created per link with Henry VII that developed into an Act of Union with his chant.62 Foremost for the Welsh patrons of these poets were their own political interests durante both Tudor and Stewart Wales. Whatever the long-term consequences for Welsh identity, at the time it was per way of creating a cultural identity sopra which Wales had an ancient primacy, but also functioned within per nation which included old allies such as the Scots, and traditional enemies, such as the Saxons.63 This awareness of nationhood survived during the Tudor period con Wales, but was transferred to the concept of per unified government. Con the words of Humphrey Prichard, addressing Queen Elizabeth sopra 1592, ‘What is more praiseworthy and more honourable preciso see different nations divided by different languages brought under the rule of one prince?’64 During this time, and later during the Stewart period, per new image of Welsh cultural identity emerged, namely verso Cambro-British political identity con the context of per wider nation state as Welsh writers attempted esatto adopt modern historical techniques and still retain the world-view per Geoffrey’s Historia.65 This applied essentially onesto the gentry, for whom the term distinguished them from other Britons, the descendants of the Saxon invaders. It was an identity based on language, culture and antiquarian interests that highlighted an inheritance from an illustrious British past,66 and the term ‘Great Britain’ began to be applied preciso verso unified realm composed of all Geoffrey’s ancient kingdoms. 60
During this same period, Scottish writers became increasingly focused on their own kind of kingship
Anche. D. Jones, ‘Lewis Glyn Cothi’, per Per Guide to Welsh Literature, ancora. A. O. H. Jarman and Gwilym Rees Hughes (Swansea, 1979), pp. 250–1; Addirittura. D. Jones, Gwaith Lewis Glyn Cothi (Cardiff and Aberystwyth, 1953). Griffiths and Thomas, Making of the Tudor Dynasty, p. 198; Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn, addirittura. Ancora. Roberts (Chester, 1981). See David Starkey, ‘King Henry and King Arthur’, Arthurian Literature 16 (1998), 171–96 for contrasting uses of Arthur durante Scotland and England during the reign of Henry VIII. Peter Roberts, ‘Tudor Wales, National Identity and the British Inheritance’, durante British Consciousness and Identity: The Making of Britain 1533–1707, ancora. B. Bradshaw and P. Roberts (Cambridge, 1998), pp. 8–42 (pp. 20–1, 38); Davies, Revolt of Owain Glyn Dw? r, p. 124. J. Gwynfor Jones, ‘The Welsh Gentry and the Image of the “Cambro-Briton”, c. 1603–25′ Welsh History Review 20 (), 620–7, 628. Juliette Wood, ‘Perceptions of the Past sopra Welsh Folklore Studies’, Folklore 108 (1997), 93–9; Roberts, ‘Ymagweddau at Brut y Brenhinedd’, pp. 130–9. Wood, ‘Perceptions of the Past’, pp. 95–7.
If ever Geoffrey’s vision approached reality, it was under James VI, particularly before the death of his affranchit Henry, Prince of Wales.67 James VI brought the kingdoms of Scotland and England and the Principality of Wales into verso solo political unit and the ispirazione of Britain seemed poised preciso become verso political reality at last. Huw Machno (1606) addressed James with the traditional honorific phrase, ‘son of prophecy’ and ‘king of Great Britain’.68 Not surprisingly, the Arthurian myth was still viable mediante this new context. The Venetian envoy observed ‘It is said that the king disposed preciso abandon the titles of England and Scotland and onesto call himself King of Great Britain like that famous and ancient king Arthur.’69 James himself was more prosaic. Speaking before parliament sopra 1603, he commented, ‘hath not the Union of Wales preciso England added onesto greater strength thereto? ’70 Wales here is per inferiore fattorino, in nessun caso longer the equal ally alluded esatto durante medieval and Renaissance Scottish chronicles. Nevertheless, the concept of the Cambro-Briton influenced verso number of antiquaries, Welsh humanist scholars and bards who continued esatto defend Geoffrey during the seventeenth century and viewed James’ accession puro the throne through verso Galfridian perspective.71 For example, the MP Sir William Maurice, squire of Clenennau, con a Commons speech durante 1609 addressed James as okcupid ‘king of Great Britain’. In support, he cited Welsh prophecies, such as the ‘coronage vabanan’, per Welsh version of the prophecy of the crowned child, and other ‘prophecies per Wealshe w’ch foretolde his comings to the place he nowe most rightfullie enjoyeth’.72 Mediante 1604, George Owen Harry compiled verso Genealogy of the High and Mighty Monarch James . . . King of Great Britayne. Such writing, of which this is only one example, demonstrated an interest per the early history of Scotland, but stressed common lineage of Welsh and Scots with prime status accorded Welsh, exactly the opposite of the king’s own view.73 Increasingly, language became per marca of identity. Although there had always been an acknowledged division between the speakers of Gaelic and Scots, evident sopra Scotichronicon as durante later texts, George Buchanan was among the first to see links between Welsh and Gaelic.74 For example, the epigrams of John Owen referred to four languages spoken sopra James’s empire.75 Robert Holland’s preface puro his Welsh translation of Basilicon Doron (1604)