In the introduction to the course, Gareth Elwyn Jones states that "the specificities of Wales' history forced its people to conceive of the nation in terms quite different [from those of other nations]”, these other terms are “a sense of community, language, culture and a feeling of common heritage” . The course as a whole can therefore be regarded as a brief survey of these expressions of Welsh national identity Llywelyn ap. Gruffydd was attempting to ossify these ephemeral qualities in the late 13th century when, in the words of Rees Davies, he sought to "convert the primacy of Gwynedd among the native dynasties into the leadership of a united native Wales, whose status as a country separate and unitary". principality would be recognized by the English Crown", although Davies must admit that Llywelyn's efforts were limited to the "pure Wallia [of] the unconquered parts of Wales", referring to those parts of the country which had hitherto avoided the assimilation to the Anglo-Saxon empire. -Norman England in the previous two centuries. Llywelyn was ultimately unsuccessful, perhaps largely because the "Wales" he sought to build was his personal dynastic and political goal of the nation, and was not a goal supported or supported by many of his immediate contemporaries, including his brother. Similarly, Davies's interpretation of the Edwardian conquest of Wales has not been accepted in full. Antony Carr rejects Davies's idea that Edward's conquest was a "national disaster" and reminds us that "for most people the new regime meant little change and the traditional leaders of Wales" the community retained their power and its own influence, indeed, in some ways Gwynedd may have been better off under Edward than it had been and... half of the document ......A182 Block 1 Introduction: Wales and History, Milton. Keynes, The Open University, 2009.Williams, G., 'Religion and belief' in Barlow, H. (ed.) (2009) Small Country, Big History: Themes in the History of Wales – The Reader, Milton Keynes, The Open University.Jones, GE 'Tudor Wales', http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/file.php/3805/!via/oucontent/course/82/tudor_wales.pdf, accessed 11 January 2011.Jones, GE 'Wales 1880 – 1914', http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/file.php/3805/!via/oucontent/course/82/wales1880_1914.pdf, accessed 11 January 2011Thomas, PDG, http:// openlearn .open.ac.uk/file.php/3805/!via/oucontent/course/82/theremakingofwalesintheeighteenthcentury.pdf, accessed 11 January 2011.Williams, GA, 'Beginnings of Radicalism', http://openlearn.open. ac .uk/file.php/3805/!via/oucontent/course/82/beginningsofradicalism.pdf, accessed 11 January 2011