Welsh nationalism (Cenedlaetholdeb Cymreig) emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self-determination, which includes Welsh devolution, meaning increased powers for the Senedd, or full Welsh independence.
English rule in Wales
Through most of its history before the Anglo-Norman Conquest, Wales was divided into several kingdoms. From time to time, rulers such as Hywel Dda, Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and Rhodri the Great managed to unify many of the kingdoms, but their lands were divided on their deaths.
Wales first appeared as a unified independent country from 1055 to 1063 under the leadership of the only King of Wales to have controlled all the territories of Wales, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Three years later the Normans invaded, and briefly controlled much of Wales, but by 1100 Anglo-Norman control of Wales was reduced to the lowland Gwent, Glamorgan, Gower, and Pembroke, regions which underwent considerable Anglo-Norman colonisation, while the contested border region between the Welsh princes and Anglo-Norman barons became known as the Welsh Marches.
Incursions from the English and Normans also amplified divisions between the kingdoms. In the 12th century, Norman king Henry II of England exploited differences between the three most powerful Welsh kingdoms, Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth, allowing him to make great gains in Wales. He defeated and then allied with Madog ap Maredudd of Powys in 1157, and used this alliance to overwhelm Owain Gwynedd. He then turned on Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, who finally submitted to him in 1171, effectively subjugating much of Wales to Henry's Angevin Empire.
In the 13th century, the last prince of Wales, Llywelyn the Last retained his rights to Wales in an agreement with Henry III in the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267.