Kingdom of Gwynedd - End of Independence

End of Independence

Following the death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in 1282, and the execution of his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd the following year, eight centuries of independent rule by the house of Gwynedd came to an end, and the kingdom, which had long been one of the final holdouts to total English domination of Wales, was annexed to England. The remaining important members of the ruling house were all arrested and imprisoned for the remainder of their lives (Dafydd's sons Llywelyn ap Dafydd and Owain ap Dafydd in Bristol Castle, his daughters and niece in convents). Under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 the Kingdom of Gwynedd was broken up and re-organised into the English county model which created the counties of Anglesey, Carnarvonshire, Merionethshire, Denbighshire and Flintshire.

The Pura Walia (the new counties which had been Gwynedd plus Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire) continued to be within a nominal Principality of Wales ruled by the Council of Wales at Ludlow as a part of the English crown. The title Prince of Wales was retained by the sovereign to be eventually awarded to his son, Prince Edward (later Edward II). The Welsh Marches would be merged with the principality in 1534 under the Council of Wales and the Marches until all separate governance for Wales as an administrative entity was abolished in 1689.

There were many Gwynedd-based rebellions after 1284 with varying degrees of success with most being led by peripheral members of the old royal house. In particular the rebellions of Prince Madoc in 1294 and of Owain Lawgoch (the great-nephew of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd) between 1372-1378 are most notable. Because of this the old royal house was purged and any surviving members went in to hiding. A final rebellion in 1400 led by Owain Glyndŵr, a member of the rival royal house of Powys, also drew considerable support from within Gwynedd.

The royal house of Gwynedd may have endured in the guise of the Wynn and the Anwyl families who both claimed Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd as their ancestor. After the purges in Wales had finished in the 16th century a certain Ioan ap Morys of Gwydir proved his royal ancestry and he and his descendants were recognised across north Wales as the de jure Princes of Gwynedd until the male line of the Wynn family died out, probably in the late 18th century. Another claim could come via the surviving members of the Anwyl of Tywyn Family or from any surviving male descendants of Dafydd Goch, the acknowledged Bastard son of Dafydd ap Gruffudd who avoided detection during the royal purges and continued the line.