Union, Act of (Wales)

Union, Act of (Wales). A 20th-cent. term applied to two Acts of Parliament (1536, 1542/3) in which Wales was declared ‘incorporated, united and annexed’ to the English realm. The 1536 Act laid down principles ‘for laws and justice to be administered in Wales in like form as it is in this realm’; the Act of 1542/3 contained further details. This legislation completed social, administrative, and judicial developments in the principality and marcher lordships of Wales since Edward I's reign. It sprang from the circumstances of the 1530s: Henry VIII's divorce and the breach with Rome, royal supremacy over the church, and associated problems, and order and defence. It was also part of an attempt to bring uniformity and control to provincial government, by attacking franchises; it expressed ideas about royal sovereignty and reflected the bureaucratic genius of Thomas Cromwell. The 1536 Act created five shires (Monmouth, Brecon, Radnor, Denbigh, and Montgomery) in addition to the six of the old principality (Carmarthen, Cardigan, Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merioneth, and Flint) and existing counties palatine, Pembroke and Glamorgan. Equality at law was granted to the Welsh, and English law, which had made great advances in Wales, became official usage. Each Welsh county had one MP (prosperous Monmouth two), and each county town had one parliamentary burgess (except poor Harlech), with ‘contributory’ boroughs providing support. The 1542/3 Act created the Court of Great Sessions, with twelve shires grouped in four circuits and Monmouth joining the Oxford circuit, an anomaly that created uncertainty as to whether Monmouthshire was or was not Welsh. The Council in the Marches received statutory recognition with supervisory judicial powers. The English language, which had made considerable inroads, was the language of administration and justice, a sore point later on. The measures were welcomed by influential Welshmen and were regarded as a boon for long after; the growth of Welsh nationalism in the 20th cent. modifed this view.

Ralph Alan Griffiths