The language from the beginning

Welsh is a Celtic language, closely related to Cornish and Breton. The Welsh we speak today is directly descended from the language of the sixth century.

Very few examples of Early Welsh exist today, with the earliest dating back to the middle of the ninth century. Elements of Old Welsh are seen in the work of the Cynfeirdd, originally dating back to the sixth century, although all manuscripts are much later than this date.

The most famous of these is Canu Aneirin (The Songs of Aneirin), written in Welsh, in an area of Britain now known as south Scotland and the north of England, where Welsh was spoken during this period.

The Mabinogi

One of the most famous Welsh literary works is undoubtedly the Mabinogi, a series of tales first transcribed sometime between 1050 and 1170, but which are known to be much older than this, having been passed from generation to generation, through the means of the Cyfarwydd – the Story teller – over a period of centuries.

The four tales which form the Four Branches of the Mabinogi – Pwyll Pendefig Dyfed, Branwen ferch Llŷr, Manawydan and Math fab Mathonwy – are the most famous, but the series also includes a number of other tales, including Iarlles y Ffynnon, Breuddwyd Rhonabwy and Culhwch ac Olwen.

Welsh from 1200 - 1600

The Middle Ages
Many examples of Welsh literature from the early Norman period still exist, as ancient tales and poetry, passed from generation to generation were permanently recorded.

This was an important period for Welsh poetry, with lords and princes across the whole of Wales sponsoring court poets. These poets were employed in order to produce eulogies for the princes and lords, describing their military prowess, and were known as Beirdd yr Uchelwyr (the poets of the gentry).

Following the defeat of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd’s army at the end of the thirteenth century, the tradition of sponsoring poets among the gentry continued for many years, but were now known as the Gogynfeirdd.

The most famous poet of the time is undoubtedly Dafydd ap Gwilym, whose humorous poems were a breath of fresh air during a turbulent period in Welsh history. Love and nature were the main themes in the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, and his work remains popular today, not only in Welsh, but translated into a number of other languages.

Although English and French speakers flocked to Wales during this period, Welsh remained the main language of Wales throughout the Middle Ages, with many people only able to understand Welsh. Many areas of Wales also had their own versions of the language, Gwyndoleg in the Gwynedd area and Gwenhwyseg in Gwent.

The 1536 and 1542 Acts of Union
The passing of the 1536 and 1542 Acts of Union brought a significant change in the official use of Welsh, and the language would not be used as an official language again until after the passing of the 1942 Welsh Courts Act – four hundred years later.

The purpose of the Acts of Union was to make Wales part of England, and therefore English became the official language of business and administration in Wales. Following the Acts it was not possible for any monolingual Welsh speaker to hold official office in Wales, and although the language was not banned, it lost its status, and brought with it centuries of steady linguistic decline.

The Welsh Bible
Welsh would have been in grave danger during the Tudor period if the Bible had not been translated into the language. Bishop William Morgan of Llanrhaedr ym Mochnant’s translation which appeared in 1588, helped to boost the language.

As Wales was a country dominated by religion, which played a pivotal role in people's lives, the Bible allowed Welsh to remain as the language of the church and religion. English may have been the official language of Wales, but the Bible helped to safeguard the future of the Welsh language for many centuries.

By the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century, many Welsh people had turned their backs on the church and were worshiping in the growing number of non-conformist chapels, which were being built across the whole of Wales. The chapel became the centre of Welsh life during this period, and therefore played an important part in the history of the language.

This was also a busy period in the history of Welsh literature, with the publication of a number of important works, such as Ellis Wynne’s Gweledigaethau’r Bardd Cwsg, and the Vicar Prichard’s Cannwyll y Cymru

Another popular and influential book published during this period was Theophilus Evans’ Drych y Prif Oesoedd, outlining the history of Wales through the ages. By 1900, the book had been republished over 20 times, making it the first Welsh language best seller!

Developments in the field of publishing in both Welsh and English made literacy an increasingly important part of people’s lives in both Wales and England during this time, and the Sunday School, together with the circulating schools, developed by Griffith Jones from Llanddowror, was a great boost to literacy, as more and more people in Wales learnt to read the Bible and other religious volumes.

Over 2500 Welsh language books were published in the eighteenth century alone, as a direct response to the growing need for written material in Welsh.

The Industrial Revolution at the beginning of the nineteenth century brought another change to the history of the language. At the beginning of the century, 80% of people in Wales spoke Welsh, but during the century, English became the main language of some areas of the country.

This period also saw mass immigration into the industrial areas of south Wales, which had a huge impact on the language. By the end of the century, the number of Welsh speakers in Wales had decreased from 80% of the population to 50%.

Welsh in the twentieth and twenty first century

At the start of the 20th century, the Welsh language was spoken by almost half the population of Wales. The 1911 Census recorded that nearly a million people regarded themselves as Welsh speakers. There are reports available on this website on every Census that has asked a question on the Welsh language.

However, since that Census the number of Welsh speakers decreased steadily until fairly recently. There are many different reasons for this, such as:

• migration patterns from rural to urban areas in search of work
  
• inward migration of English speakers to rural areas
  
• increased availability of English-language news and entertainment media
  
• a general secularisation of society, leading to a decline in chapel attendance, on which so many traditional Welsh-medium activities were centered.
  

The combined influence of these factors led to the erosion of the language in many communities which were once almost entirely Welsh-speaking.

By 1991, although the number of people able to speak the language was still more than half a million (508,098), this represented just 18.7 per cent of the population.

For technical reasons, comparisons with earlier Census results are problematic, because of differences in the way the results were presented from Census to Census.

However, 1981 and 1991 results are comparable and on this basis the 1991 and 2001 results are encouraging.

Significantly, the 1991 Census saw an increase in the number and percentage of young people who spoke Welsh - and young people of course represent the future of the language. This trend continued beyond 1991 and this is reflected in the results of the 2001 Census, published in 2003, which recorded that 20.8% of the population of Wales said they could speak Welsh. We have analysed the results of this Census in detail and the results, in the form of maps and briefing papers are available in the publications library of this website.