Some of the best soldiers
under Edward were Welsh, especially the bowmen who followed the Earl
of Gloucester and Roger Mortimer from the Wye and Severn valleys.
It is not right that we Welshmen should feel bitter against England,
because, in this last war, Edward won and Llywelyn fell. It is easy
to say that Edward was cruel and faithless, and it is easy to say
that Llywelyn was shifty and obstinate; but it is quite clear that
each of them thought that he was right. Edward thought that Britain
ought to be united: Llywelyn thought Wales ought to be free. Now,
happily, we have the union and the freedom.
On the other hand, I should not like you to think that Wales was more
barbarous than England, or Llywelyn less civilised than Edward I.
Giraldus Cambrensis saw a prince going barefoot, and the fussy little
Archbishop Peckham saw that Welsh marriage customs were not what he
liked; and many historians, who have never read a line of Welsh
poetry, take for granted that the conquest of Wales was a new victory
for civilisation.
In many ways Wales was more civilised than England at that time. Its
law was more simple and less developed, it is true; but it was more
just in many cases, and certainly more humane.
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