Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/381

CHAPTER XXII ENGLAND AND FRANCE DURING THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR I. WALES AND SCOTLAND 463. Extent of the King of England's Realms before Ed- ward I (1272-1307). The English kings who preceded Edward I had ruled over only a portion of the island of Great Britain. To the west of their kingdom lay the mountainous district of Wales, inhabited by that remnant of the original Britons which the Angles and Saxons had been unable to conquer (321). To the north of England was the kingdom of Scotland, which was quite independent, except for an occasional recognition by the Scotch kings of the English rulers as their feudal superiors. Edward I, however, succeeded in conquering Wales permanently and spent much time in attempting to add Scotland to his possessions. 464. Edward I conquers Wales. For centuries a border warfare had been carried on between the English and the Welsh. When Edward I came to the throne he demanded that Llewellyn, Prince of Wales (as the head of the Welsh clans was called), should do him homage. Llewellyn, who was a man of ability and energy, refused the king's summons, and Edward marched into Wales. Two campaigns were necessary before the Welsh finally succumbed. Llewellyn was killed (1282), and wjth him expired the independence of the Welsh people. Edward introduced English laws and customs into Wales, but was so conciliatory in his policy that the rule of the English was accepted with no great opposition. He gave his son the title of "Prince of Wales," which the heir to the English throne still retains. 279