P-05-834 All Schools Should be Welsh Medium and Teach Welsh History, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 28.05.19

According to John Davies in his book 'A History of Wales' during the period 400 - 600 AD the Brythonic language that had been used by the native Celts began to transform into watch can now be recognised as Welsh or Cymraeg.

If we take the later year of 600AD this means that the Welsh language is at least 1,400 years old. A language that has stood the test of time.

Chronicles which were historical accounts were written by monks in various monasteries across Wales from 800AD and were the primary sources of record-keeping for centuries.

These documents would have been written in Latin and Welsh and would have provided a unique Welsh perspective on history.

I would like to draw the committees attention to one such Chronicle that is held in the National Library of Wales called 'Brut y Tywysogion' and dates to around 1330AD.

This of course is one of many manuscripts and documents that were written in Welsh. One of the most famous examples indicates native Welsh laws were in place under the reign of Hywel Dda, king of Wales during the 10th century AD. Some of these laws were akin to those that we have in place today, with one in particular referring to divorce which at the time would have been frowned upon.

This of course is not taught in schools, though information is readily available because it works better for Westminster to suppress any knowledge that we were an independent, forward thinking, just nation before the Act of Union in 1536.

To avoid mistakes in the future we must be able to draw on those of the past. If we don't know our own history, then can we really call ourselves Welsh?