Following his wars against the Welsh under Llywelyn and the Treaty of Aberconwy, Edward began his major castle-building campaign, starting with Flint, Rhuddlan, Aberystwyth and Builth. After the death of Llywelyn in late 1282., Edward's second phase of castle-building began, including the mighty strongholds of Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech, Cricieth, and Beaumaris.

1200-1240: WALES UNIFIES UNDER LLYWELYN AP IORWERTH

Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (son of Iorwerth) was the grandson of Owain Gwynedd. Under his dynamic leadership and military prowess, his lands were again united as a single political unit for one of the few times in their long, checkered history. In 1204, the Prince married Joan, the daughter of King John of England. In the "Brut", it is stated that Llywelyn "enlarged his boundaries by his wars, gave justice to all according to their deserts, and by the bonds of fear or love bound all men duly to him." He was further recognized as pre-eminent in Wales by the new king Henry III.

Llywelyn's long reign of 46 years brought an era of relative peace and economic prosperity to Wales. Welshmen were appointed to the Bishoprics of St. David's and Bangor. The bards referred to LLywelyn as the Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Eryri, but to posterity, as Gwynfor Evans proudly points out, he became known as Llywelyn Fawr (Llewelyn the Great).

1222-1283: LLYWELYN AP GRUFFUDD

After he death of Llywelyn the Great, quarrelling between his two sons Dafydd and Gruffudd undid most of what their father had accomplished. In 1254, Henry II of England gave the young Prince Edward control of all the Crown lands in Wales.

The situation was restored under the brilliant leadership of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd whose success led to the acceptance of his claim to be called "Prince of Wales" by King Henry at the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. This was the high water mark of Welsh political independence: the people of Wales had their own prince, governed their own lands under their own laws and were able to conduct their own affairs in their own language. Their country was poised to take its place among the developing independent nation states of Europe.

Then it all unraveled. Edward I took the throne in 1272 determined to crush all resistance to his rule in Wales. Not only did Llywelyn have to face the forces of the king of England but he was also faced with resistance among the minor Welsh princes as well as the powerful Marcher Lords.

1277: THE TREATY OF ABERCONWY

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was forced to give up most of his lands, being confined to Gwynedd, west of the River Conwy. Harsh measures undertaken against his people by King Edward, who began building English castles garrisoned by English mercenaries and settlers, led to a massive revolt led by Llywelyn.

1282: CILMERI

At first, things went well for the Welsh prince, but a chance encounter with an English knight near Cilmeri, near Builth in Powys, ended the Welsh dreams. Llywelyn was killed, effective resistance ended, and for all practical purposes, Wales was henceforth forced to live under an alien political system, playing only a subordinate role in the affairs of Britain.

1284: THE STATUTE OF RHUDDLAN

The Statute of Rhuddlan (The Statute of Wales), confirmed Edward's ruthless plans for the subjugation of Wales "once and for all." New counties were created, and English law was firmly set in place. In 1300, Edward made his son Lord Edward "Prince of Wales and Count of Chester," at Caernarfon Castle, one of his magnificent strongholds built around the perimeter of Wales, and ever since that time these titles have been automatically conferred upon the first-born son of the English monarch. The Welsh people had no say in the matter.

The Preamble to the infamous statute shows fully its intent to bring Wales to order. It reads:

Edward, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine, to all his subjects of his land of Snowdon, greeting in the Lord. The Divine Providence, which is unerring in its own government, among the gifts of its dispensation, wherewith it hath vouchsafed to distinguish us and our realm of England, hath now of its favour, wholly and entirely transferred under our proper dominion, the land of Wales, with its inhabitants, heretofore subject unto us, in feudal right, all obstacles whatsoever ceasing; and hath annexed and united the same unto the crown of the aforesaid realm, as a member of the same body. We therefore . . . being desirous that our aforesaid land of Snowdon and our other lands in those parts . . . should be governed with due order . . . and that the people or inhabitants of those lands who have submitted themselves absolutely unto our will . . . have cause to be rehearsed before us and the nobles or our realm, the law and customs of those parts hitherto in use; which being diligently heard and fully understood, we have . . . abolished certain of them, some thereof we have allowed, and some we have corrected; and we have likewise commanded certain others to be ordained and added thereto . . ."

Thus it was that many of the ancient Welsh laws, codified by Hywel Dda were now superseded by English ones. Welsh law had equally divided property among male children, the system of "gavel-kind." The English law honored "primogeniture" by which property went to the first-born male. The Statute of 1284 allowed the Welsh system to continue (perhaps an English measure to prevent the building up of large Welsh-owned landed estates?). Changes from Welsh law included the rule that bastard sons were not to share in the inheritance, and that the inheritance was to pass to females upon failure of male heirs. Females could also have the right to a dowry in Wales for the first time.

Mid-14th Century: LITERARY REVIVAL

1. "The Mabinogion"
In "The White Book of Rhydderch" and "The Red Book of Hergest," composed sometime in mid-14th century, are preserved the anonymous texts we now call "The Mabinogion", Wales's greatest contribution to European literature. Though not translated into English until mid-19th century by Lady Charlotte Guest, these masterpieces of dialogue and emotional story telling may date back to the 11th century, using material from a much earlier period involving figures from Celtic mythology.

2. The Poets of the Gentry
The decline of the Welsh aristocracy and the growth of the native Welsh gentry brought about a new class of mid-14th century poets. A new form of poetry developed, the Cywydd, a much more flexible form than the awdl. To this was added the ornamentation known as cynghanedd (harmony) that still plays a major part in the production of Welsh poetry.

3. Dafydd ap Gwilym
At the time of Chaucer in England, and just following that of Dante in Italy, Wales produced its own world-class master of the art of poetry, Dafydd ap Gwilym. Utilizing his knowledge of many Anglo-Norman themes and literary practices, and much influenced by the poems of Ovid (which had just been made available in Britain), Dafydd entertained his wealthy patrons with stories of love, beautiful if unattainable women and the wonders of nature. It is a task well worth while to master the Welsh language if only to grasp the beauty and delicacy of Dafydd's language and his imaginative use of metaphor. Dafydd's contemporaries were Llywelyn Goch, whose "Death of Lleucu Llwyd" is one of the finest of all Welsh love poems; and Iolo Goch, whose finest work is perhaps "Y Llafurwr" (The Labourer).

1294-1400: THE WELSH REBELLION AND OWAIN GLYNDWR

It wasn't long after the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd that other Welsh leaders raised the flag of rebellion. Prominent among these were Madog ap Llywelyn (who called himself Prince of Wales); Llywelyn Bren, Lord of Senghenydd; and Owain Lawgoch (Owen of the Red Hand). Before the latter was betrayed and killed, he had raised the hopes of the Welsh people of fulfilling the old prophesies of restoring his people's rule over Britain, a tradition that was also seen as part of the destiny of the greatest of all the Welsh rebel leaders, Owain Glyndwr.

Glyndwr's rebellion began in 1400 and for the first four years everything seemed to be going his way. Even the comet of 1402 was seen as a herald of Welsh successes against the English, whose armies Owain "almost destroyed by magic."

1399: RICHARD II SURRENDERS TO BOLINGBROKE AT FLINT CASTLE