did you know that wales lost its independence in 1283 when davydd III and his brother llywellyn "the last" III attacked england? i learned this--and a lot of other details about the original welsh kings/princes--in my royal history course on the princes of wales tonight.
since moving to england nearly four years ago, i have taken a number of evening history classes, mostly focused on the english royals. they are all taught by the same instructor, collin, who has an amazing memory for names and dates. my first course with him was on the dukes of york, who richard and i used to joke were the distant relatives of the dukes of hazzard.
i originally signed up for the course to meet people, because when we moved to england we found it hard to make friends. i did meet people at history, many of whom still take collin's classes, but they happen to be about 30 years my senior. i found that pregnancy was the key to finally making friends here my own age.
[written 27 February 2007; posted 1 March--sorry had trouble posting and then forgot]
Oh, a question you may know the answer to -- Wales is a principality, not a country...right? What does that mean? Do they have different rights than England, Scotland and Northern Ireland? Google is failing me here.
Posted by: Sarah Sosiak | March 01, 2007 at 03:37 PM
Hmmm.. You've got me. I don't really know. Now if you were to ask me about Wales in the 1200s I might know more. :) Seriously, Richard couldn't explain this succinctly either. Wikipedia has a bit on recent changes to the rights in Wales that might be clearer to you than me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales.
Posted by: ShannonB | March 04, 2007 at 01:07 PM