WALES' craggy landscape played a major part in protecting its language, according to the second episode of BBC Wales' The Story of Welsh (Wednesday, January 15, BBC One Wales).

"The plain fact is the Normans never really got to grips with Wales," explained Six O'Clock News presenter Huw Edwards, who fronts the six-part series.

"When they first set eyes on the country - less than a year after the Battle of Hastings - they probably expected to conquer it as swiftly as they'd conquered England. But, like the Romans before them, they were in for a bit of a surprise."

The programme shows how, defeated by rugged terrain, the Normans only nibbled away in the south - including Southern Pembrokeshire and Monmouth - with not much opportunity to influence the language elsewhere. It also explains how Flemish weavers gave Pembrokeshire its character as 'Little England beyond Wales' and how the Landsker linguistic fault line at Narberth was formed.

Dr. Dafydd Johnston, of Swansea University, describes how poets were once ranked almost as high as princes in terms of wealth and status.

"Poets had an obligation to praise and entertain," he said. "A poet would be retained by a prince, and he would travel the country to sing the praises of his lord, spreading his fame."

The Story of Welsh also discovers how the castles at Caernarfon, Harlech and Aberystwyth played key roles in the evolution of the Welsh language, how North Wales nobleman Owain Glyndwr was declared the first Prince of Wales at Machynlleth and how Henry VIII - despite having an Anglesey-born father - did his best to stamp out the language in favour of English.