ABSTRACT
England's relations with its neighbours in the late Middle Ages saw some breaking down of the old barriers with Wales and Scotland. The lifting of restrictions on the Welsh was gradual, but despite them, Welshmen began to play a part in English political life. England's less happy relations with Ireland show that tension there was maintained, with the Irish, both Gaelic and Anglo-Irish, being forced into subordination to an alien government in Dublin. Native Ireland stood apart from events in England, although it might come to terms with the Anglo-Irish, who, equally with the Gaelic Irish, resented interference from across the sea. If Wales was largely incorporated under English rule and Ireland precariously poised between control and independence, England's third neighbour within the British Isles, Scotland, was politically distinct. Like Ireland, it comprised two nations, but by the late Middle Ages effective authority centred on the Lowland areas, which were linguistically closer to England than was either Ireland or Wales.
