היסטוריה קרוסית-פוליטית מוויילס...
n 1838, a wave of uprisings, mutinities and revolts known as the Rebecca Riots swept the Narberth and Pontadulais areas, then the whole of Camarthenshire, and eventually all of west Wales. After a bad harvest had caused mass starvation, gangs of farmers dressed in women's clothes grabbed their shotguns and set fire to English-owned workhouses and tollages (whose English absentee landlords were charging extortionate fees for use of the roads).
The leader of the riots, a particularly well-built Welshman, had needed a disguise to protect his identity, and borrowed a dress from a large lady called Big Becca- the only person whose clothes would fit hum- in a neighbouring parish. He, in turn, became known as Becca, and his acolytes followed suit, borrowing their wives' clothes, ostensibly to evade detection (although they probably just enjoyed it) and hailing Genesis 24:60 as their inspiration and justification: 'They blessed Rebekah, and said onto her: "Or sister, be thou the mother of thousands, of tens of thousands, and let thy seed posses the gates of those which hate them."'
It took five years and all the king's men, to suppress the cross-dressing, fire-starting, happy trigger Welsh mob...
