Prince of Wales is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the English, and later British, throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Gwynedd who, from the late 12th century, used it to assert their supremacy over the other Welsh rulers. However, to mark the finalisation of his conquest of Wales, in 1301, Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon with the title, thereby beginning the tradition of giving the title to the heir apparent when he was the monarch's son or grandson. The title was later claimed by the leader of a Welsh rebellion, Owain Glyndŵr, from 1400 until 1415.
The history of what is now Wales begins with evidence of a Neanderthal presence from at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 31,000 BC. However, continuous habitation by modern humans dates from the period after the end of the last ice age around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age the region, like all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, the culture had become Celtic, with a common Brittonic language. The Romans, who began their conquest of Britain in AD 43, first campaigned in what is now northeast Wales in 48 against the Deceangli, and gained total control of the region with their defeat of the Ordovices in 79. The Romans departed from Britain in the 5th century, opening the door for the Anglo-Saxon settlement. Thereafter, the culture began to splinter into a number of kingdoms. The Welsh people formed with English encroachment that effectively separated them from the other surviving Brittonic-speaking peoples in the early middle ages.
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Llywelyn II, also known as Llywelyn the Last, was Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 1282. Llywelyn was the son of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth and grandson of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, and he was one of the last native and independent princes of Wales before its conquest by Edward I of England and English rule in Wales that followed, until Owain Glyndŵr held the title during the Welsh Revolt of 1400–1415.
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn the Great, was a medieval Welsh ruler. He succeeded his uncle, Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, as King of Gwynedd in 1195. By a combination of war and diplomacy, he dominated Wales for 45 years.
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was the first and only Welsh king to unite all of Wales under his rule from 1055 to 1063. He had also previously been King of Gwynedd and Powys from 1039 to 1055. Gruffydd was the son of Llywelyn ap Seisyll, king of Gwynedd, and Angharad daughter of Maredudd ab Owain, king of Deheubarth, and the great-great-grandson of Hywel Dda. After his death, Wales was again divided into separate kingdoms.
The Kingdom of Gwynedd was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
The Principality of Wales was originally the territory of the native Welsh princes of the House of Aberffraw from 1216 to 1283, encompassing two-thirds of modern Wales during its height of 1267–1277. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I of England of 1277 to 1283, those parts of Wales retained under the direct control of the English crown, principally in the north and west of the country, were re-constituted as a new Principality of Wales and ruled either by the monarch or the monarch's heir though not formally incorporated into the Kingdom of England. This was ultimately accomplished with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 when the Principality ceased to exist as a separate entity.
The Treaty of Aberconwy was signed on the 10th of November 1277, and was made between King Edward I of England and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. It followed Edward's invasion of Llywelyn's territories earlier that year. The treaty re-established peace between the two but also essentially guaranteed that Welsh self-rule would end upon Llywelyn's death and represented the completion of the first stage of the Conquest of Wales by Edward I.
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ab Iorwerth was a Welsh prince, the first-born son of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. His mother Tangwystl probably died in childbirth.
Cefnllys Castle was a medieval spur castle in Radnorshire, Wales. Two successive masonry castles were built on a ridge above the River Ithon known as Castle Bank in the thirteenth century, replacing a wooden motte-and-bailey castle constructed by the Normans nearby. Controlling several communication routes into the highlands of Mid Wales, the castles were strategically important within the Welsh Marches during the High Middle Ages. As the seat of the fiercely contested lordship and cantref of Maelienydd, Cefnllys became a source of friction between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Roger Mortimer in the prelude to Edward I's conquest of Wales (1277–1283). Cefnllys was also the site of a borough and medieval town.
Owain Lawgoch, full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri, was a Welsh soldier who served in Lombardy, France, Alsace, and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War. As a politically active descendant of Llywelyn the Great in the male line, he was a claimant to the title of Prince of Gwynedd and of Wales.
Wales in the High Middle Ages covers the 11th to 13th centuries in Welsh history. Beginning shortly before the Norman invasion of the 1060s and ending with the Conquest of Wales by Edward I between 1278 and 1283, it was a period of significant political, cultural and social change for the country.
The Treaty of Gwerneigron was a peace treaty signed by Henry III, king of England and Dafydd ap Llywelyn, prince of Wales of the House of Gwynedd, on 29 August 1241. The treaty brought to an end Henry's invasion of Wales that had begun earlier that month.
Goronwy ap Tudur Hen, also known as Goronwy ap Tudur or Goronwy Fychan, was a Welsh aristocrat and Lord of Penmynydd. He was a member of the Tudor family of Penmynydd, Anglesey, North Wales, and a direct ancestor of Owen Tudor and thereby the Royal House of Tudor. He was a soldier for the English crown, who fought in the First War of Scottish Independence, including in the English invasion which led to the Battle of Bannockburn. He remained loyal to King Edward II of England until the king's death, and was both a yeoman and forester of Snowdon. After his death in 1331, his body was interred in Llanfaes Friary, near Bangor, Gwynedd.
The conquest of Wales by Edward I took place between 1277 and 1283. It is sometimes referred to as the Edwardian conquest of Wales, to distinguish it from the earlier Norman conquest of Wales. In two campaigns, in 1277 and 1282–83, respectively, Edward I of England first greatly reduced the territory of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, and then completely overran it, as well as the other remaining Welsh principalities.
During the late Middle Ages in medieval Wales, rebellions were instigated by the Welsh people in a series of battles and wars before and after the 13th century conquest of Wales by Edward I. By 1283, the whole of Wales was under the control of the Kingdom of England for the first time. Then, by 1400, after centuries of intermittent warfare in Wales, the discontent of the Welsh people with English rule in Wales culminated in the Welsh Revolt, a major uprising led by Owain Glyndŵr, who achieved de facto control over much of the country in the following years. The rebellion petered out after 1409, and after complete English control was restored in 1415, there were no further major rebellions against England in the former Kingdoms in Wales.
John II Komnenos on a boar hunt
Frederick Barbarossa's strange drowning gave rise to legends that he was still alive
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ab Iorwerth falls to his death from the Tower of London
