The Welsh are from Troy?

[Jens T]

I just read an offhand comment that Prince Llewellyn of Wales, in the 1200s, "invoked the Trojan origins of Welshmen". Does this mean that the Welsh (or Celts?) actually originated in Troy or that area?

[incitatus]

No-one is sure where the celts came from. The Trojan legend attached to them was a claim laid to boost national esteem, and probably has no basis in fact. In a similar way the British were (according to Giraldus Cambrensis, and I think Bede mentions it too) descended from Brutus. They weren't , of course, but it was a trendy thing to claim, just as Julius Caesar claimed descent from the Goddess Venus throough his fictional ancestor Aeneas.

[Jens T]

Just politics as usual, I guess. I'd like to claim I'm descended from Isaac Newton, and if I could convince enough people of that, it might just become fact. Thanks for your answer, incitatus.