ple is in an early, fluid, and
impressionable stage, as may be seen from a comparison of countries
which have undergone it with countries which have not--a comparison,
for instance, of England with Ireland or Germany. Perhaps the nearest
parallel in the history of Wales to the Norman Conquest of England is
the conquest of Wales by Cunedda, the founder of the Cymric kingdom,
in the dark and troublous times which followed the withdrawal of the
Roman troops from Britain. But though an invader and a conqueror,
Cunedda was not an alien; he spoke the same language as the people he
conquered and belonged to the same race to which the most important
part of them belonged. And this militated against his chances of
becoming a founder of Welsh unity. A race of conquerors distinct from
the conquered in blood and language and civilisation, must hold
together for a time; they form an official governing class, enforcing
the same principles of government, and establishing a uniform
administration throughout the country. And the uniform pressure reacts
on the conquered, turning them from a loose group of tribes into a
nation. This is what the Norman Conquest did for England. But if the
conquerors are of the same race and language as the conquered, they
readily mix with them; instead of holding together they identify
themselves with local jealousies and tribal aspirations. This happened
again and again in Germany. A Saxon emperor sends a Saxon to govern
Bavaria as its duke and hold it loyal to the central government; the
Saxon duke almost instantaneously becomes a Bavarian--the champion of
tribal independence against the central government; and so the Germans
remained a loose group of tribes and states--a divided people. This
illustration suggests one of the reasons why Cunedda's conquest failed
to unite Wales.

Again the custom of sharing landed property among all the sons tended
to prevent the growth of Welsh unity. Socially it appears far more
just and reasonable than the custom of primogeniture. It is with the
growth of feudalism (already apparent in the Welsh laws of the tenth
century) that its political dangers become evident. The essence of
feudalism is the confusion of political power and landed property; the
ruler is lord of the land, the landlord is the ruler. If landed
property is divided, political power is divided. When the Lord Rhys
died in 1197 leaving four sons, Deheubarth had four rulers and formed
four states instead o