ABSTRACT
Early modern Wales therefore lacked most of the characteristic features of nationhood, even those of a nation in subjection. Moreover, one of the most obvious and powerful facts about Wales in this era was the force of regionalism. It may seem remarkable to apply such a concept to such a small territory, but geography and communications made such local divisions quite inevitable. The division seemed obvious after the Acts of Union, which created 12 Welsh counties. Each region had its own Vice-Admiral, its own structure for the collection of taxes and excise. while legislation in the interregnum clearly saw the two halves as separate missionary territories. The civil war in Wales involved two distinct and barely related series of campaigns. Denbighshire politics were long shaped by the need to reconcile the divergent interests of eastern and western halves, with their respective capitals at Wrexham and Denbigh. In Glamorgan, the river Ogwr marked the internal border between east and west.
