On the Welsh /Ynglun â'r Cymry

"The Welsh people are light and agile. They are fierce rather than strong, and totally dedicated to the practice of arms. Not only the leaders but the entire nation are trained in war. Sound the trumpet for battle and the peasant will rush from his plough to pick up his weapons as quickly as the courtier from the court."

"They plough the soil once in March and April for oats, a second time in summer, and then they turn it a third time while the grain is being threshed. In this way the whole population lives almost entirely on oats and the produce of their herds, milk, cheese and butter. They eat plenty of meat, but little bread."

"They are passionatley devoted to their freedom and to the defence of their country: for these they fight, for these they suffer hardships, for these they will take up their weapons and willingly sacrifice their lives."

"It is a remarkable fact that on many occasions they have not hesitated to fight without any protection at allagainst men clad in iron, unarmed against those bearing weapons, on foot against mounted cavalry. They are so agile and fierce that they often win battles fought against such odds."

"The Welsh are given neither to gluttony nor to drunkenness. They spend little on food or clothes. Their sole interest in life consists of caring for their horses and keeping their weapons in good order, their sole preoccupation the defence of their fatherland and the seizing of booty."

"If food is short or if they have non at all, they wait patiently for the next evening. neither hunger nor cold can deter them. They spend the dark and stormy nights in observing the movements of their enemies."

"In Wales, no one begs. everyone's home is open to all, for the Welsh generosity and hospitality are the greatest of all virtues."

"When they come together to make music, the Welsh sing their traditional songs, not in unison, as is done elsewhere, but in parts, in many modes and modulations. When a choir gathers together to sing, which happens often in this country, you will hear as many parts and voices as there are performers, all joining together in the end to produce a single organic harmony and melody in the soft sweetness of B-flat."

"The Welsh value distinguished birth and noble descent more than anything else in the world. They would rather marry into a noble family than into a rich one. Even the common know their family tree by heart and can readily recite from memory the list of their grandfathers, great-grandfathers, great-great grandfathers, back to the sixth or seventh generation..."

"The Welsh people rarely keep their promises, for their minds are as fickle as their bodies are as agile."

"It is the habit of the Welsh to steal anything they can lay their hands on and live on plunder, theft and robbery, not only from foreigners and people hostile to them, but also from each other."

"In war the Welsh are very ferocious when battle is first joined. They shout, glower fiercely at the enemy, and fill the air with fearsome clamor, making a high-pitched screech with their long trumpets. From their first fierce and headlong onslaught, and the shower of javelins whcih they hurl, they seem most formidable opponents. If the enemy resists manfully and they are repulsed, they are immediately thrown into confusion."

"The Welsh people are more keen to own land and to extend their holdings than any other I know."

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