From humble beginnings in the service of the princes of Gwynedd, the Tudor family rose steadily to royal stock. The Tudor royal dynasty began with King Henry VI acceding to the throne of England, Wales and Ireland in 1485, and ended with the childless death of Elizabeth I in 1603. They are famed for taking the country from a run-of-the-mill medieval kingdom to the pre-eminent world power on the brink of Empire.

But while Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were noted English monarchs of vast wealth and power, the family had far humbler origins. The princes of Gwynedd such as Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (Llywelyn The Great) and his sons had in their service an aristocratic family of advisors, diplomats, servants and councillors.

The first of the dynasty of the early 'Tudors' was Cynfrig ab Iorwerth but his son, Ednyfed Fychan, was the one who cemented his family's position in the administration of Gwynedd. He was a diplomat and ambassador, acting for Llywelyn in negotiations with the English crown. Ednyfed Fychan married Gwenllian, daughter of The Lord Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth, raising the social stock of his family.

Ednyfed had at least six sons, all of whom entered the service of the princes of Gwynedd. The eldest, Goronwy, took his father's place as 'Seneschal' of Gwynedd - the chief advisor and councillor with legal and diplomatic powers. His son was known as Tudur Hen, sometimes anglicised to Tudor. He was Lord of Penmynydd, a settlement in Anglesey. His position reflected the growing stature of his family.

Tudur Hen's grandson, Tudur Fychan, married Margaret ferch Thomas of the Gwynedd royal family. She was descended from Llywelyn ab Iorwerth on her mother's side and the Plantagenet kings John, Henry III and Edward I on her father's side.

Tudur and Margaret had at least five sons, who were active in the rebellion of their cousin Owain Glyndwr. The youngest, Marededd ap Tudur, had a child called Owain ap Tudur ap Marededd. Owain was the key to the continued rise of the family. He managed to get round the punitive measures issued against Welshmen in the wake of the Glyndwr insurrection, through following his family's tradition of following prevailing winds. He is thought to have fought with or assisted King Henry V in his French wars, and become close to the English royal court.

After the death of Henry, he married, in secret, the dowager queen Catherine of Valois. A member of a servile Gwynedd family of proletarian stock had married into a powerful western European royal family.

Society and Culture in Tudor Wales
Historian John Davies on society and culture in Tudor Wales. In 1536 Wales had about 278,000 inhabitants. The number had risen to around 360,000 in 1620 and to perhaps 500,000 by 1750. The chief cause of this rise is the intensification of rural settlement, the growth in trade aided by greater stability and an increasingly diverse nature of economic activity.

The raising of cattle and sheep and the processing of their products remain central to the economy, although lead-mining, coal-mining, iron-making and a wide range of crafts and professions offer expanding opportunities.

In the 16th century at least, population growth probably outpaced economic growth, lowering the standard of living of the mass of the population. Inflation - a fourfold rise in prices between 1530 and 1640 - made the situation worse, as did the increasing landlessness caused by the estate-building activities of the gentry. The abject poor probably constituted 30% of the population. They dwelt in one-roomed hovels lacking in windows and chimneys and were subject to the Statute of Labourers of 1563 which assumed that those without property were inherently unfree.

Fearing the instability they could cause, the Poor Law was passed in 1601; it authorised every parish to raise rates to maintain the poor, to apprentice orphan children and to punish 'sturdy beggars'. About half the population was made up of the lesser farmers and smallholders.

In favoured areas, for example the Vale of Glamorgan, a smallholder could be relatively prosperous, but in the famine years such as 1585-7, 1593-7 and 1620-23 many of them lived on the edge of destitution. Members of the professions, merchants and the more substantial craftsmen and yeomen represented about 15% of the population. This was a class whose power would increase after the reign of the Tudors.

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk