This is the handout for a class on Medieval Wales. It starts with three interesting maps. The Doggerland map is from a time when people could walk from Europe to Britain - a time that ended surprisingly recently. The medieval-Britain map shows Britain divided between German and Gaelic tribes. (Cumbria is Welsh.) Recent Genetic studies indicate that the successive invasions of Britain replaced the elites - but most of the population is decended from the people who walked to Britain as the glaciers receded. The map of Wales is a Geography-is-destiny map: Wales didn’t unite until late,, because the mountains separated the regions that could grow wheat. Those regions became Welsh Kingdoms.
The Welsh were lawsuit enthusiasts. They were also enthusiastic about producing books of laws. The base penalty for murder of a Welshman was 63 cows. This is a reflection of kinship responsibilities, not an arbitrary number: The killer’s family owed 32 cows, the first cousins owed 16 cows, the second cousins owed 8 cows, then 4, 2, and 1. Wales was not a good place two live if you could not trace your Welsh ancestry through seven generations.