WALES, FLAG OF

flag of a constituent unit of the United Kingdom, flown subordinate to the Union Jack, that has horizontal stripes of white and green bearing a large red dragon. During the era of Roman rule in Britain, a vexilloid (flaglike standard) was introduced that may have been invented in Persia (Iran). Known as the Red Dragon, it included a pole-mounted metal head with an attached body of silk that resembled a windsock. When the Dragon was carried in battle, the silk body made lifelike movements in the air, while a whistle in the head created a screaming noise to frighten the enemy. That Dragon later became a symbol for local rulers, traditionally including King Arthur and the kings of the Wessex Saxons. King Harold II, overcome by William I the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, went down to defeat under the Dragon. In Wales there have been several claims for the earliest use of a dragon standard, including those of Prince Cadwaladr (d. 1172) and Owen Glendower, who fought for Welsh independence from England in the early 15th century. The Tudor dynasty became established in England in 1485, and its first monarch, Henry VII, chose white and green as his livery colours. His red dragon symbol was attributed to Welsh ancestors, and that dragon was recognized in 1801 as the official badge of Wales. It has appeared on a flag of white-over-green stripes since at least 1911, when the future King Edward VIII was invested with the title Prince of Wales. Other variations of the Welsh dragon flag also exist. Whitney Smith History Wales before the Norman Conquest The prehistory of Wales Meaningful study of prehistoric Wales has to be pursued against the broader background of British prehistory, for the material remains of the period 3500-1000 BC, especially funerary monuments, provide regional manifestations of features characteristic of Britain as a whole. The Celtic origins of Britain, probably to be sought in a gradual process within the last millennium BC, are a matter of continuing scholarly debate. Traditional archaeological and linguistic interpretation emphasizes an influx, from the late Bronze Age onward, of Celtic-speaking peoples, though not perhaps in vast numbers, and a dynamic relationship between continental and insular communities. Modern views emphasize that the ethnogenesis of the Celts must be seen as a complex process of social change and not entirely the result of migrations. As regards their social structure, the metalwork associated with feasting and military prowess, such as that found at Llyn Fawr and Llyn Cerrig Bach, coupled with the broad distribution of fortified sites, typifies the highly stratified but politically fragmented and warlike society which prevailed in Wales down to the Roman period. Roman Wales (1st-4th centuries) Wales in the Roman period shared broadly the experience of other parts of highland Britain, but modern archaeological study has tended to moderate the traditional contrast drawn between military and civil zones. Mediterranean culture is best exemplified in southern Wales, where there were important Roman towns at Caerwent and Carmarthen and villas at a number of other sites. Remains elsewhere consist mainly of the roads and forts of a phase of military occupation that lasted to about AD 200. But at Caernarfon (Segontium) there was a continuous well-ordered settlement to about AD 400, and it is likely that civil influences were exerted much more widely than was once thought. Linguistic study suggests that the native language, known to scholars as Brittonic or Brythonic, was infused with Latin terms, though distinction needs to be made between borrowings of the period of Roman rule and the scholarly borrowings of subsequent periods. Early Welsh consciousness of a Roman heritage may owe a great deal to the Latinity sustained in later centuries by the Christian church.