A History of Europe England's search for the social governance of Wales
Wales' close relationship with England made it a prime example of internal expansion in England, largely because Wales had little real unity with its mother country in its early history, and even the unification achieved by LlewellynofGwynedd of Gweynd in the 13th century quickly collapsed.
This is because Wales has long lacked a universally recognised centre, and Wales as a whole has relied on historical memories formed through language and literature, with limited internal cohesion. In this context, the British War of Conquest is more likely to awaken the national consciousness of Wales than to strengthen the sense of sovereignty.
The Yorkist and Tudor propaganda of their own legitimacy appealed to the mythological and genealogical imagination of the Welsh, who were increasingly eager to integrate into England and accept the rule of the Yorkist and Tudor dynasty in exchange for social stability. Wales made no fuss and did not make a fuss when the Commonwealth Act came into force, but it was clear that Wales was more dependent on England than Scotland, which joined England in 1707 for the economic benefits of a more secure Commonwealth.
It is also important to recognise that the Welsh spontaneously wanted to unite with England, and that the series of restrictive decrees imposed in England from the 15th century, although they caused strong resentment among the Welsh, did not deter the ambitions of the local gentry, who, in pursuit of power, participated in or influenced the affairs of the royal family through marriages, purchases, etc., and tried to get close to the king of England in order to integrate into the upper echelons of English society.
By the time of Henry II, the Welsh had already held an important place in the royal family. In this context, the series of arrangements made by England for Wales between 1461-1547 were more like an endorsement of the changes that had taken place in Wales in response to the Welsh threat, which England had been forced to make for the sake of military security. Recent research has shown that the portrayal of lawlessness in Wales in the Union Act and in letters from Cromwell and others was intended to provide a pretext for reform and to exaggerate the chaos in Wales.
Although Wales was unified in 1284, its level of development was far from that of England, and Wales was marginalized for a long time;Between the mid-15th and mid-16th centuries, England changed its passive posture and weak image, and more or less effectively governed Wales, and the two places were more unified in the field of law and justice, which greatly weakened the centrifugal tendencies of Wales. Although Wales was retained in the Act of Union"Principality"But this title no longer has any meaning, and since then the Duchy has included all of Wales, including the former border areas.
Structurally, Wales is governed by a top-down system that includes the Boundary Commission, the ** Division, the County Court, the District Court and the 100 District Court. The integration of decentralised powers into the Senior Local Councils responsible for local, county and territory affairs, and the integration of local representatives into the Westminster Assembly, meant that Wales was integrated into the British system of governance.
New functions were clearer, more efficient, more specialised and standardised, and Wales began to move towards bureaucratis. As many of the new institutions were adapted or developed on the basis of the old ones, such as the Boundary Commission (whose powers were based on those of the Prince of Wales' Privy Council), the Grand Council (which was not entirely new to Wales) and the Shire system, the new framework did not cause major upheaval in Wales, but rather a relatively smooth transition to the administration and institutions of England.
However, the main aim during this period was not to give Wales a real chance for development, but to weaken Wales' independence and minimise the threat to England from the border areas around England. In a letter to Henry VIII, the war in Ireland was described as follows:"The king did not expect much benefit from this war, but it would allow the king to defend other frontier areas without paying a price"。The same is true of the British attitude towards Wales. All England needed was a stable, controlled Wales that would not threaten the security of England, and once the change of the Welsh social order was achieved, the king would turn more attention to the development of Welsh society, and administrative reform was also based only on the administrative framework, and Wales rarely appeared in the English narrative of this period.
Of course, this period of domination was the beginning of a strategic change in England's governance in Wales, but in the long run the continuation of the new framework proved to be more effective, playing a role in maintaining the stability and security of Wales and England, and to some extent boosting relations between England and Wales. Elizabethan England adapted better to the tensions with Welsh culture in response to this legacy, including by translating the Bible into Welsh, but the new measures of this period did not deviate from the original framework. While England was skeptical of the effects of the merger of England and Wales, the effects were not felt to a large extent in the four centuries following the enactment of the Mergers Act, and were largely reversed at Wales' behest, or only in 1993.
The merger of the judiciary and the executive has made Welsh feel more British, with a deeper sense of national sovereignty and nation-state, and Welsh people feel more about who they are"British", especially the aristocracy is willing to use"British"to describe yourself as"British"。Welsh people are more identical"British"of the identity. As the Welsh sense of identity has strengthened, the threat of Wales to the territorial security of England has been greatly reduced.
Unlike the national separatist tendencies in Scotland and Northern Ireland today, Wales also has some nationalist tendencies, although secession is not dominant in Wales and is opposed by the majority of Welsh people. The overall situation in Wales is relatively stable and has a closer relationship with England, which is related to the history of Wales' governance and the development of relations during its governance. Analyzing the development of governance in Wales from this perspective can provide more perspectives and reflections for the study of the development of local governance in England.