ABSTRACT
From ancient times, social and economic conditions in Wales had been much affected by the nation's trade routes across the western seas, to Ireland and south-western Britain, and beyond to western France and Spain. Under the Tudors and Stuarts, this geographical context was of major political concern, because it made Wales a likely entry point for raiding or invasion; particularly when the country had so many promising ports and landing sites. In 1485, Henry Tudor began his march to Bosworth Field from Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire; while in 1797, a French expeditionary force landed in the same county, at Fishguard. In the century after the Acts of Union, the new social elite of Tudor Wales could be recognised by the firm grip that the various gentry's families had secured on parliamentary representation of both county and borough. In the civil war, the hopes of the Royalist cause were gravely damaged by the negotiations conducted by the Earl of Glamorgan.
