Religious Nonconformity in Wales
The Welsh often chose nonconformity in religion from the very start of their encounter with other groups. Since the time of the Romans, the Welsh had found themselves on the wrong side of the power structure, and used religion as a way to oppose the ruling force–whether that be Roman, Saxon, or Norman. This trend began with their continued adherence to druidism, even after the Romans attempted to wipe it out, through Pelagianism and other ‘heresies’ opposed by the Roman Church, to the Cistercian religious order, which defied the Pope in order to support the aspirations and independence of the Welsh princes. In a sense, it culminated in the 1600s with the puritan movement that brought so many Welsh across the Atlantic to Massachusetts, while their co-religionists attempted to reform the Church in Wales.“I returned to Bristol. I have seen Read more…
Welsh Foundations of The American Revolution
Wales and the Welsh people had a huge impact on the founding of the United States and the American Revolution. Wales was England’s first colony, and the Welsh have been oppressed by the English since the Saxons first arrived in the 400s AD. It should thus be no surprise that the Welsh were among the original immigrants to the Americas, my own family included, and fought in the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson writes in his autobiography that “The tradition in my father’s family was that their ancestor came to this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of Snowdon, the highest in Gr. Br.” Other founders with Welsh ancestry (some only rumored) include Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island and its religious freedom, William Penn, Sam and John Adams, James Madison, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, and Benedict Arnold and Read more…
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