The term was unknown in 15th century Wales, but, owing to the harsh penal legislation imposed upon its inhabitants, it became necessary for many Welshmen to petition Parliament to be "made English" so that they could enjoy privileges given only to Englishmen, including the right to buy and hold land according to English law. Such petitions may have been distasteful to the patriotic Welsh, but for the ambitious and socially mobile gentry rapidly emerging in Wales and on the Marches, they were a necessary step for any chance of advancement.

In the military, however, Welsh mercenaries, no longer fighting under Glyndwr for an independent Wales, were highly sought after by the new king, Henry V, for his campaigns in France, because the skills of the Welsh archers in such battles as Agincourt was legendary. Such examples of allegiance to their commander, the English sovereign, went a long way in dispelling any latent thoughts of independence and helped paved the way for the overwhelming Welsh allegiance to the Tudors.

When Henry Tudor ascended the throne as Henry VII, the foundations of the great Welsh landed-estates had been laid, and much of the day-to-day affairs of the nation was controlled by its landed squires, many of whom had descended from English families and intermarried with their Welsh counterparts. In 1461, this control was reinforced by the appointment of William Herbert of Raglan in Southeast Wales, to Parliament as Baron Herbert. The first full-blooded Welshman to become part of the English aristocracy and the first in a long tradition, for centuries to come, that would remove from the Welsh nation, its leaders and men of influence. This loyalty to the English Crown continued under Henry VIII, who came to the throne in 1491. Their loyalties would henceforth be with the Crown or Parliament or both, but not with their native country.

Even the harsh, repressive measures of Bishop Rowland Lee, appointed President of the Council of Wales in 1534, seemed to have caused no great reaction on the part of the Welsh, whom he seemed to have regarded as little more than "congenital thieves." There was no rebellion, as had occurred in Cornwall and Yorkshire, against the great religious changes instituted by the Crown. Either the Welsh realised the hopelessness of their position, or their leaders, in true "Dic-Sion-Dafydd" style, were too busy enjoying the fruits of co-operation with London.

The year 1536 produced no great trauma for the Welsh; all the ingredients for its acceptance had been put in place long before. The so-called Act of Union of that year, and its amended version of 1543, seemed inevitable. It was simply a radical, standardising approach to the problems created by the continuing existence of the Marcher lordships and the lack of a uniform administrative structure for the whole principality of Wales. More than one historian has pointed out that the union with England had really been achieved by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284. It was welcomed by many in Wales, the gentry, commercial interests and religious reformers among others, simply because it stated that "Persons born or to be born in the said Principality...(Wales)... shall have and enjoy and inherit all and singular Freedoms, Liberties, Rights, Privileges and Laws...as other King's subjects have, enjoy or inherit"

The Welsh people had now achieved full equality before the law with their English counterparts. The Act opened up opportunities for individual advancement in all walks of life, and Welshmen flocked to London to take full advantage of their chances. Although the document was one of the most important in the whole history of Wales, it was passed without consultation with the Welsh people; there was no agreement on a central Welsh authority or parliament, simply because such an authority did not exist.

Its title is "An Act for Laws and Justices to be ministered in Wales in like form as it is in this realm."

Its preamble states: "His Highness. . .of the singular love and favour that he bears towards his subjects of this said dominion of Wales, and intending to reduce them to the perfect order, notice and knowledge of the laws of this his Realm, and utterly to extirpate all and singular the sinister usage's and customs differing from the same. . .hath. . .ordained, enacted and established that his said country or dominion of Wales shall stand and continue forever from henceforth incorporated, united and annexed to and with his Realm of England"

Thus, though the most prominent element contained in the statute is a list of the lordships that constitute the new counties, 13 in number, and though it created the modern border between Welsh and English counties, its real purpose was to incorporate, finally and for all time, the principality of Wales into the kingdom of England. A major part of this decision was to abolish any legal distinction between the people on either side of the new border. From henceforth, English law would be the only law recognised by the courts of Wales. In addition, for the placing of the administration of Wales in the hands of the Welsh gentry, it was necessary to create a Welsh ruling class not only fluent in English, but who would use it in all legal and civil matters. Thus inevitably, the Welsh ruling class would be divorced from the language of their country.Their eyes were focused on what London or other large cities of England had to offer, not upon what remained in Wales, which was without a government of its own, without a capital city, without even a large town and with a language which had no legal status in the eyes of the law.

Yet out of this apparent attempt to liqidise a nation came something entirely different. Wales stayed alive in spite of the provision that English was to be the only language of the courts of Wales, and those using the Welsh language were not to receive public office in the territories of the king. "No person or persons that use the Welsh speech or language shall have or enjoy any manor, office or fees within the realm of England, Wales or the king's other dominions upon pain of forfeiting the same offices or fees unless he or they use and exercise the speech or language of English".

Though many took advantage of the new opportunities in England, there were still those in Wales who cherished the old traditions; not all its children were singing the praises of the establishment and the benefits enjoyed by a stable and content society. The English, the hated "Sais", were oppressors and their language was despised as uncouth and barbaric, in other words, Saxon.

Other changes were also to have a lasting effect upon the people of Wales. The old Welsh patronic system of family names was destroyed by Bishop Lee. The relative scarcity of Welsh surnames today is a source of much amusement to the English visitor, especially the Welsh use of occupational or personal nicknames to distinguish between so many with the same last name. Without the patience or desire to listen to the Welsh use of ap (son of) to signify their kin in their legal presentment, he ordered its deletion and introduced English surnames.

Thus it came about, that English Christian names were used for Welsh surnames, Williams, Hughes, Johns, Davies, etc. Sometimes the Welsh "ap" became embedded in the new surname name as the initial letter "p", Powell, Price, Pritchard for some "ap" was reatained in full, ap Howel, ap Rhys, and ap Richard, etc. One paradox resulted, Jones became the most common surname in Wales, despite there being no letter "J" in the Welsh alphabet.

The 1536 Act of Union had become law under Henry VIII, a king who was not merely content, as had been his father, in merely hanging on to his throne and ensuring its succession to his son. The new king meant business; he allowed no opposition to his sovereignty. He had the Duke of Buckingham executed in 1521, adding his Welsh lordships Brecon and Newport to the list of rapidly growing crown lands. When Rhys ap Gruffydd inherited the lands of his grandfather, they were granted by the king to Walter Devereux, steward of the household of Henry's daughter, Mary. A quarrel between Devereux and Rhys gave the king an excuse to get rid of the Welsh lord, who was accused of plotting with the King of Scotland to make himself ruler of Wales.

From that time on, any differences between Wales and England, and between Welsh people and English people, could not be found in the political arena. It was the social and cultural differences of the Welsh, especially in the matter of their language, that kept them apart from their neighbours and made their society seem so strange and "closed" to the rest of Britain, and it is in the language and literature of Wales where the differences are most experienced.