Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/499

 England in the Middle- Ages 423 German invaders had been unable to conquer. To the north of England was the kingdom of Scotland, which was quite inde- pendent except for an occasional recognition by the Scotch kings of the English kings as their feudal superiors. Edward I, however, succeeded in conquering Wales permanently and Scotland temporarily. For centuries a border warfare had been carried on between The Welsh the English and the Welsh. William the Conqueror had found bards ^^'^• it necessary to establish a chain of fortresses on the Welsh fron- tier, and Chester, Shrewsbury, and Monmouth became the out- posts of the Normans. While the raids of the Welsh constantly provoked the English kings to invade Wales, no permanent con- quest was possible, for the enemy retreated into the mountains about Snowdon, and the English soldiers were left to starve in the wild regions into which they had ventured. The Welsh were encouraged in their long and successful resistance against the English by the songs of their bards, who promised that their people would sometime reconquer the whole of England, which they had possessed before the coming of the Angles and Saxons. When Edward I came to the throne he demanded that Edward T Llewellyn, prince of Wales, as the head of the Welsh clans was wa^eT"^^ 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 with him expired the independence of the Welsh people. Edward divided the country into shires and introduced English laws and customs, and his policy of conciliation was so successful that there was but a single rising in the coyntry for a whole century. He later presented his son to the Welsh as their prince, and from that time down to the present the title of "Prince of Wales" The title of has usually been conferred upon the heir to the English throne. va?eT" The conquest of Scotland proved a far more difficult matter than that of Wales.