Is America named after a Welshman?

On this day 1496, John Cabot received the letter of authority from Henry VII to make a voyage of discovery to North America 

It has been suggested that the name, "America" was derived from the name of Richard ap Meryk, anglicised to Richard Amerike a wealthy Bristol merchant of Welsh descent, who was the principal owner of the "Matthew", the ship sailed by John Cabot, the Italian navigator during his voyage of exploration to North America in 1497.  However the more widely held view is that America is the named after the Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci.

Richard Amerike was born at Meryk Court, Weston under Penyard, near Ross-on-Wye in 1445, Herefordshire and was a descendant of the Earls of Gwent. he came into contact with John Cabot when Cabot came to Bristol in 1495 hoping to find  sponsors of a voyage of discovery.  At that time, Amerike and other Bristol merchants were trying to find new sources of fish and other resources and so impressed were they with Cabot, that they arranged an audience with King Henry VII who gave Cabot the authority to make the voyage and claim lands on his behalf.

The legend grew that the North American continent had been named for him because he was the main sponsor of the voyage and that his coat of arms was similar to the flag later adopted by the independent United States.

On this day 1295 the Battle of Maes Moydog occurred.

After the death of Llywelyn ap Grufydd in 1282, his brother Dafydd had taken up the mantle and continued the fight, however on his capture and public execution in 1283, Edward I hoped that Wales would be pacified.  He also introduced the English shire system and English laws, with The Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and poured an enormous amount of money and effort into both the rebuilding of damaged castles and the construction of new ones.  The Welsh however resented English rule and rebelled  unsuccessfully in 1287 and 1288. Welsh discontent was brought to a head in 1294, when the payment of an unpopular tax coincided with the raising of Welsh troops for Edward's campaign in Gascony. 

30th September 1294  -  Welsh soldiers assembling at Shrewsbury, due to march to Portsmouth for Edward’s campaign in Gascony, mutinied and killed their English officers, the rebels rallied around a distant cousin of Llywelyn, Madog ap Llywelyn and several Welsh castles were put under siege.  

October 1294  - Edward  mustered an army at his customary base of Worcester, to send reinforcements to a besieged Brecon Castle.

5th December 1294  -  Edward led an army to Wrexham as the Welsh had managed to push the English out of North Wales into  Chester.  Some 10,000 rebels surrendered and were pardoned on the condition they serve with Edward in France. Madog, however, managed to convince his followers that it was better to die defending their homeland, than in a foreign land. 

24th December 1294  -  Edward was joined at his new castle on the Conway Estuary by Reginald de Gray’s force of 11,000 men

12th January 1295  - Edward sacked  Nefyn, but on the return journey, they were ambushed by Welsh forces near Bangor who retook the  booty they had taken from the town.  The King and most of his force survived and made it back to Conway, where they were besieged.

5th March 1295  - Madog marched on Shrewsbury and camped at Maes Moydog, near Montgomery.  However, 2,500 English from Oswestry under the command of William de Beauchamp approached the Welsh camp and routed the Welsh army. The English lost just 90 men, the Welsh 700 

10th March 1295  -  The Welsh lost  a further 500 men following a midnight sortie of their camp. 

15th April 1295  -  Edward sent a force to occupy Anglesey and ordered the construction of Beaumaris Castle. 

Edward received surrenders and pledges of allegiance from all over Wales.  Madog went on the run but was eventually forced to surrender and imprisoned in the Tower of London for the rest of his life.

Born this day, 1886 in Pontypridd

Frederick Hall Thomas, known as Freddie Welsh - World lightweight champion. 

In the early part of the 20th century, the area around Pontypridd produced more champions  than any other  comparably sized region  in the world and Freddie Welsh was one such champion. 

Freddie was a sickly child, suffering from consumption and his parents were advised for him to take up boxing to strengthen his lungs.  Freddie was a natural and when aged sixteen, he decided to further his career in America, where initially, he just earned enough to live as a  hobo or  migratory worker, jumping trains to avoid paying the fare, but he soon became a professional boxer and his fortunes changed.

To start with, he took the name Freddie Cymro but changed it to Freddie Welsh on the advice that the pronunciation may confuse the American public and soon established himself on the East Coast.  However, Freddie then returned to Wales to look after his seriously ill mother and subsequently became British and World lightweight champion.    

The  Britannia Bridge connecting Ynys Mon (Anglesey) with the rest of Wales was opened on 5th March 1850.

The tubular, wrought iron box section bridge was designed and built by Robert Stephenson for carrying rail traffic but was rebuilt as a  steel truss arch bridge to carry both road and rail traffic, following a fire in 1970.