A Prophecy Fulfilled

A PROPHECY FULFILLED

"They may now be said to have recovered their former independence, for the most wise and fortunate Henry Vll is a Welshman."

      An Italian Envoy.

The accession of Henry Vll to the throne of England was, to Welshmen of the period, the fulfilment of a prophesy which had its origin in the twelfth century History of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Though we may regard that work as a romance, the prophesies of Merlin to which it gave rise undoubtedly coloured Welsh political thought for five centuries. Merlin foretold the ultimate triumph of the Welsh Dragon - that one day there would come from over the seas a champion who would restore to the Welsh their lost heritage of Britain; that the Welsh hero, King Arthur, was not dead but only asleep, and that he would one day arise to set his countrymen free from the Saxon yoke.

          Welsh bards undoubtedly believed that the victory of Henry would mean the leadership of Wales. "The sway of the Saxon is over," wrote one of them; "no Saxon shall be free from tribute. Rhys ap Thomas will know how to govern the land, and will consign to perdition every man who knows not our tongue."

           But the reality was very different, for it soon became clear that the accession of the Tudors meant the absorption  of Wales into the realm of England, and the suppression of the Welsh language. In short, it proved to be not the fulfilment but the negation of the bard's ideals.Then the bard's disappointment was profound and his sorrow bitter. "Woe unto us, powerless oaks of the race of Camber! How worthless we are! mere weeds, servants of the Tudors of Anglesey, who have put their faith in the enemies of our race."

            Henry was born at Pembroke Castle where his uncle, Jasper Tudor, was the earl. His grandfather, OwenTudor, who was descended from one of the ancient families of Wales, had married the princess Catherine of France; his father, Edmund Tudor, had married the heiress of the House of Lancaster. Thus he could boast of an ancestry more ancient and not less distinguished than that of either Yorkist or Lancastrian, for in his veins flowed the blood of a French Capet, a Norman Rolf, and a Welsh Cadwalader.

             Henry had always lived in Wales or on the Continent; the associations of his childhood were Welsh; and Welshmen were the mainstay of his victorious army. Two of the three banners under which he fought were the Red Dragon of Cadwalader and the Dun Cow of the Tudors. It was therefore not surprising to find that his countrymen regarded Henry's victory as a national triumph.

             Proud of his Welsh descent, and anxious that the world should know it, Henry called his eldest son Arthur after the legendary Welsh hero; and when Arthur died, he charged Prince Henry "that he should have a special care for the benefit of his own nation and countrymen the Welshmen."