title: Tile

text: These are commonly made of ceramic or stone, although recent technological advances have resulted in rubber or glass tiles for floors as well. Ceramic tiles may be painted and glazed. Small mosaic tiles may be laid in various patterns. Floor tiles are typically set into mortar consisting of sand, cement and often a latex additive. The spaces between the tiles are commonly filled with sanded or unsanded floor grout, but traditionally mortar was used.


title: Tile

text: Natural stone tiles can be beautiful but as a natural product they are less uniform in color and pattern, and require more planning for use and installation. Mass-produced stone tiles are uniform in width and length. Granite or marble tiles are sawn on both sides and then polished or finished on the top surface so that they have a uniform thickness. Other natural stone tiles such as slate are typically "riven" (split) on the top surface so that the thickness of the tile varies slightly from one spot on the tile to another and from one tile to another. Variations in tile thickness can be handled by adjusting the amount of mortar under each part of the tile, by using wide grout lines that "ramp" between different thicknesses, or by using a cold chisel to knock off high spots.


title: Tile

text: Some stone tiles such as polished granite, marble, and travertine are very slippery when wet. Stone tiles with a riven (split) surface such as slate or with a sawn and then sandblasted or honed surface will be more slip-resistant. Ceramic tiles for use in wet areas can be made more slip-resistant either by using very small tiles so that the grout lines acts as grooves or by imprinting a contour pattern onto the face of the tile.


title: Tile

text: The hardness of natural stone tiles varies such that some of the softer stone (e.g. limestone) tiles are not suitable for very heavy-traffic floor areas. On the other hand, ceramic tiles typically have a glazed upper surface and when that becomes scratched or pitted the floor looks worn, whereas the same amount of wear on natural stone tiles will not show, or will be less noticeable.


title: Tile

text: Natural stone tiles can be stained by spilled liquids; they must be sealed and periodically resealed with a sealant in contrast to ceramic tiles which only need their grout lines sealed. However, because of the complex, nonrepeating patterns in natural stone, small amounts of dirt on many natural stone floor tiles do not show.


title: Tile

text: The tendency of floor tiles to stain depends not only on a sealant being applied, and periodically reapplied, but also on their porosity or how porous the stone is. Slate is an example of a less porous stone while limestone is an example of a more porous stone. Different granites and marbles have different porosities with the less porous ones being more valued and more expensive.


title: Tile

text: Most vendors of stone tiles emphasize that there will be variation in color and pattern from one batch of tiles to another of the same description and variation within the same batch. Stone floor tiles tend to be heavier than ceramic tiles and somewhat more prone to breakage during shipment.


title: Tile

text: Rubber floor tiles have a variety of uses, both in residential and commercial settings. They are especially useful in situations where it is desired to have high-traction floors or protection for an easily breakable floor. Some common uses include flooring of garage, workshops, patios, swimming pool decks, sport courts, gyms, and dance floors.


title: Tile

text: Plastic floor tiles including interlocking floor tiles that can be installed without adhesive or glue are a recent innovation and are suitable for areas subject to heavy traffic, wet areas and floors that are subject to movement, damp or contamination from oil, grease or other substances that may prevent adhesion to the substrate. Common uses include old factory floors, garages, gyms and sports complexes, schools and shops.


title: Tile

text: Ceiling tiles are lightweight tiles used inside buildings. They are placed in an aluminium grid; they provide little thermal insulation but are generally designed either to improve the acoustics of a room or to reduce the volume of air being heated or cooled.


title: Tile

text: Mineral fiber tiles are fabricated from a range of products; wet felt tiles can be manufactured from perlite, mineral wool, and fibers from recycled paper; stone wool tiles are created by combining molten stone and binders which is then spun to create the tile; gypsum tiles are based on the soft mineral and then finished with vinyl, paper or a decorative face.


title: Tile

text: Ceiling tiles very often have patterns on the front face; these are there in most circumstances to aid with the tiles ability to improve acoustics.


title: Tile

text: Ceiling tiles also provide a barrier to the spread of smoke and fire. Breaking, displacing, or removing ceiling tiles enables hot gases and smoke from a fire to rise and accumulate above detectors and sprinklers. Doing so delays their activation, enabling fires to grow more rapidly.


title: Tile

text: Ceiling tiles, especially in old Mediterranean houses, were made of terracotta and were placed on top of the wooden ceiling beams and upon those were placed the roof tiles. They were then plastered or painted, but nowadays are usually left bare for decorative purposes.


title: Tile

text: Ceramic materials for tiles include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. Terracotta is a traditional material used for roof tiles.


title: Tile

text: This is a US term, and defined in ASTM standard C242 as a ceramic mosaic tile or paver that is generally made by dust-pressing and of a composition yielding a tile that is dense, fine-grained, and smooth, with sharply-formed face, usually impervious. The colours of such tiles are generally clear and bright.


title: Tile

text: Similar to mosaics or other patterned tiles, pebble tiles are tiles made up of small pebbles attached to a backing. The tile is generally designed in an interlocking pattern so that final installations fit of multiple tiles fit together to have a seamless appearance. A relatively new tile design, pebble tiles were originally developed in Indonesia using pebbles found in various locations in the country. Today, pebble tiles feature all types of stones and pebbles from around the world.


title: Tile

text: Printing techniques and digital manipulation of art and photography are used in what is known as "custom tile printing". Dye sublimation printers, inkjet printers and ceramic inks and toners permit printing on a variety of tile types yielding photographic-quality reproduction. Using digital image capture via scanning or digital cameras, bitmap/raster images can be prepared in photo editing software programs. Specialized custom-tile printing techniques permit transfer under heat and pressure or the use of high temperature kilns to fuse the picture to the tile substrate. This has become a method of producing custom tile murals for kitchens, showers, and commercial decoration in restaurants, hotels, and corporate lobbies.


title: Tile

text: A method for custom tile printing involving a diamond-tipped drill controlled by a computer. Compared with the laser engravings, diamond etching is in almost every circumstance more permanent.


title: Tile

text: Certain shapes of tiles, most obviously rectangles, can be replicated to cover a surface with no gaps. These shapes are said to "tessellate" (from the Latin "tessella", 'tile') and such a tiling is called a tessellation. Geometric patterns of some Islamic polychrome decorative tilings are rather complicated (see Islamic geometric patterns and, in particular, Girih tiles), even up to supposedly quaziperiodic ones, similar to Penrose tilings.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Cloud cuckoo land is a state of absurdly, over-optimistic fantasy or an unrealistically idealistic state of mind where everything appears to be perfect. Someone who is said to "live in cloud cuckoo land" is a person who thinks that things that are completely impossible might happen, rather than understanding how things really are. It also hints that the person referred to is naive, unaware of realities or deranged in holding such an optimistic belief.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: In the modern world, a "cloud cuckoo lander" is defined as someone who is seen as "crazy" or "strange" by most average people, often doing or saying things that seemingly only make sense to themselves, but also exhibiting cleverness at times in ways no one else would think of.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Cockaigne, the land of plenty in medieval myth, can be considered the predecessor to the modern day cloud cuckoo land. It was an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures were always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life did not exist.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Aristophanes, a Greek playwright, wrote and directed a drama "The Birds", first performed in 414 BC, in which Pisthetaerus, a middle-aged Athenian, persuades the world's birds to create a new city in the sky to be named () or Cloud Cuckoo Land (), thereby gaining control over all communications between men and gods.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer used the word (German ) in his publication "On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason" in 1813, as well as later in his main work "The World as Will and Representation" and in other places. Here, he gave it its figurative sense by reproaching other philosophers for only talking about Cloud-cuckoo-land. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche refers to the term in his essay "On Truth and Lying in a Nonmoral Sense".


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: In 1923 the Viennese satirist and critic Karl Kraus published (Cloudcuckooland), an adaptation of "The Birds" by Aristophanes.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Author Edward Crankshaw used the term when discussing the Deák-Andrássy Plan of 1867 in his 1963 book "The Fall of the House of Habsburg" (Chapter 13, "The Iron Ring of Fate").


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: The phrase has been used by British and American politicians as well as writers. Margaret Thatcher used this phrase in the 1980s: "The ANC is ... Anyone who thinks it is going to run the government in South Africa is living in cloud-cuckoo land." Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's spokesman, who, when asked if the ANC might overthrow the government of South Africa by force, replied: "It is cloud-cuckoo land for anyone to believe that could be done". MP Ann Widdecombe used the phrase in a debate on drug prohibition with a representative of Transform Drug Policy Foundation: "it is cloud cuckoo land to suggest that [people who don't currently use heroin would not start using it if it became legal]".


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Newt Gingrich referred to Barack Obama's claim that algae could be used as a fuel source as cloud cuckoo land. Henry A. Wallace, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (later U.S. Vice President in Franklin D. Roosevelt's third term) used the term to describe the unrealistically inflated value of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange just before the crash of 1929 that signaled the onset of the Great Depression. In his 1936 book, "Whose Constitution? An Inquiry into the General Welfare", Wallace describes a cartoon in a popular weekly magazine which "pictured an airplane in an endurance flight refueling in mid-air, and made fun of the old fashioned economist down below who was saying it couldn't be done. The economic aeroplane was to keep on gaining elevation indefinitely, with the millennium just around a cloud" (p. 75). Wallace wrote that Wall Street's practice of lending money to Europe after World War I "to pay interest on the [war reparations] debts she owed us and to buy the products we wanted to sell her ... was the international refueling device that for 12 years kept our economic aeroplane above the towering peaks of our credit structure and the massive wall of our tariff, in Cloud-Cuckoo Land".


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Paul Krugman used the phrase referring to inadequate German economic politics toward failing members of the European Union: "Basically, it seems that even as the euro approaches a critical juncture, senior German officials are living in Wolkenkuckucksheim—cloud-cuckoo land." (June 9, 2012). Yuri N. Maltsev, an Austrian economist and economic historian, uses the term to describe the lack of promised results in the communist states in his forward to 1920 essay by Ludwig von Mises: "Today, the disastrous consequences of enforcing the utopia on the unfortunate populations of the communist states are clear even to their leaders. As Mises predicted, despite the cloud-cuckoo lands of their fancy, roasted pigeons failed to fly into the mouths of the comrades."


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: The phrase has been used in poetry, music, film and by writers. "Cloudcuckooland", a poetry collection by Simon Armitage. "Cloudcuckooland", the first album by the Lightning Seeds, released in 1990. In 2002, electronic music producer Sasha released a track called "Cloud Cuckoo" on his album Airdrawndagger. Radiohead uses the term in the lyrics of their song "Like Spinning Plates". Publisher and editor Gary Groth uses the term in the title of his review of Scott McCloud's book Reinventing Comics.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Cloud Cuckoo Land has been used as a stand-in for Hollywood as in Stella Gibbons's "Cold Comfort Farm". Dorothy Sayers, in the Author’s Note to her novel "Gaudy" "Night" (1936), explains that the story, while set in Oxford, is entirely fictitious, concluding that “...the novelist’s only native country is Cloud-Cuckooland, where they do but jest, poison in jest: no offense in the world.” (The final words are a reference to "Hamlet", Act 3, Scene 2.)


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: Cloud Cuckoo Land is the name of a realm hidden inside a cloud featured in "The Lego Movie". An iconoclastic, mixed-genre world where there are no rules or unhappy things and serves as a hidden base for the rebel protagonists and councils of Master Builder. It is destroyed by Lord Business's army and falls in pieces into a giant Lego ocean.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: “Magical Christmas Land” is a slang term frequently used by players of the collectible card game "" that appears to be synonymous with Cloud Cuckoo Land.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: "Cloud Cuckoo Land" is the name of a September 2021 novel by Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winning author Anthony Doerr.


title: Cloud cuckoo land

text: On November 26, 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk used the phrase to mock General Motors CEO Mary Barra's claim that GM is the electric vehicles leader, despite Tesla controlling 63% of the US electric vehicle market share compared to GM only accounting for 9-10%. Musk tweeted, "Must be nice living in Cloud Cuckoo Land."


title: Greg Mottola

text: Gregory J. Mottola (born July 11, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, and television director.


title: Greg Mottola

text: Mottola grew up in Dix Hills, New York, in a Catholic family of Italian and Irish descent. He received his BFA in art from Carnegie Mellon University and MFA in film from Columbia University.


title: Greg Mottola

text: He wrote and directed the 1996 independent film "The Daytrippers", then concentrated for several years on directing in television for series such as "Undeclared" and "Arrested Development".


title: Greg Mottola

text: "Adventureland" (2009) is a "first love" story about a group of college-age kids working at an amusement park in the 1980s. The film starred Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and received critical praise.


title: Greg Mottola

text: He directed "Paul", a science fiction/comedy film about two comic book nerds (played by the film's screenwriters Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) who meet an alien named Paul while vacationing in the US.


title: Greg Mottola

text: , Mottola is writing a screenplay based on Leanne Shapton's "Important Artifacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry", to be produced by Natalie Portman and Plan B Entertainment.


title: Soilwork

text: Soilwork is a Swedish melodic death metal band from Helsingborg. They are signed to Nuclear Blast. Formed in late 1995 by Björn Strid and Peter Wichers, originally under the name "Inferior Breed", the band changed their name in late 1996 to Soilwork (meaning "working from the ground up").


title: Soilwork

text: The band was formed in late 1995, originally under the name Inferior Breed. Their sound, as explained by "Speed" was influenced by such bands as Pantera, Meshuggah, and Carcass. Upon changing their band name in late 1996 to Soilwork, they began to make more melodic music. Soilwork began work on a demo entitled "In Dreams We Fall into the Eternal Lake". Before the recording ever took place, bassist Carl-Gustav Döös left the group, leaving guitarist Peter Wichers to handle the bass tracks on the demo. In a chance encounter, Soilwork met Michael Amott of Arch Enemy fame, who owned a record store in Helsingborg, and gave him a copy of their demo. This ultimately led to the band signing with Listenable Records. The band had huge changes which saw them change dramatically, giving rise to the guitar mastery of David Andersson.


title: Soilwork

text: Not only did Andersson influence Soilwork but he also guest starred with Australian Demonic Drug metallers, Gangs of Old Ladies.


title: Soilwork

text: In 1998, Soilwork added keyboardist Carlos Holmberg and bassist Ola Flink. The band recorded and released their debut album "Steelbath Suicide" in May of that year. Soon after, guitarist Ludvig Svartz and drummer Jimmy Persson left, citing "different musical opinions". Persson (now guitar and vocals in Faithful Darkness) was replaced by Henry Ranta, while Svartz was replaced by Peter Wichers' uncle, Ola Frenning. The band toured throughout Europe in support of the album with bands such as Darkane, Naglfar, and Krisiun.


title: Soilwork

text: In 1999, Soilwork recorded their second full-length album, "The Chainheart Machine" but it was released in 2000. The album received critical acclaim and eventually landed them a recording contract with label Nuclear Blast, allowing the band to tour with acts such as Defleshed, Cannibal Corpse, and even, briefly, with fellow melodic death metallers Dark Tranquillity.


title: Soilwork

text: In 2000, after exhausting themselves with touring, Soilwork returned to the studio to record their third full-length album, "A Predator's Portrait". The release was well received and brought Soilwork to the forefront of the melodic death metal scene, alongside label mates In Flames. The band played at Wacken Open Air that year, and toured extensively with Annihilator and Nevermore.


title: Soilwork

text: Following up on their success, Soilwork entered the studio again in late 2001 to record the follow-up to "A Predator's Portrait" with Devin Townsend and Fredrik Nordström. "Natural Born Chaos" was released in early 2002, to much acclaim as well. Soilwork toured throughout Europe to support the album, and, for the first time, throughout the United States, first with bands Hypocrisy, Scar Culture, Chimaira, Unearth and Killswitch Engage during the summer, then alongside label mates In Flames during the fall. After touring, they started writing and recording their fifth album.


title: Soilwork

text: In December 2002, Soilwork entered the studio to begin recording their fifth album. After recording, the band began a European tour with Children of Bodom and Shadows Fall throughout April and May. That same month, "Figure Number Five" was released. In early June, drummer Henry Ranta left the band, to focus more on his personal life, and was replaced a week later by Richard Evensand. The band then embarked on another North American tour with In Flames, Chimaira, and Unearth. In September, Soilwork toured Japan with Children of Bodom. Merely days after a short mini-trek tour through Japan, Soilwork also toured Australia briefly. Later that year, they again toured North America with Chimaira, As I Lay Dying and Bleeding Through. After the tour, Richard Evensand left the band to replace drummer Andols Herrick who had recently left Chimaira. Soilwork initially announced his temporary replacement as Dirk Verbeuren of Scarve. Verbeuren would later become the full-time replacement. In early 2004, singer Björn "Speed" Strid laid down tracks with Italian melodic death metal band Disarmonia Mundi. During April, the band announced that it had extended its contract with record label Nuclear Blast Records. That same month the band again toured Australia alongside Anthrax, , and Killswitch Engage. In mid-2004, Soilwork toured Japan for a second time alongside Dark Tranquillity.


title: Soilwork

text: Soilwork entered Dug Out Studios on 14 September 2004 to begin recording their sixth full-length album, "Stabbing the Drama". A week later the band changed venues and recorded at Fascination Street Studios. "Stabbing the Drama" was released in early March 2005. The album entered the Finnish charts at number 19, and in Sweden at number 14. The band also began to gain minor commercial success in the United States. "Stabbing the Drama" reached No. 12 and No. 21 on the Billboard Heatseeker and Independent album charts, respectively. The band partook in the 2005 Ozzfest, performing on the second stage. In November the band toured stateside with Fear Factory. In late 2005, guitarist Peter Wichers left the band due to tour exhaustion and other personal issues. The same month, Strid announced he was working on a second album with Disarmomia Mundi. In May 2006, Daniel Antonsson was announced as the replacement for Peter Wichers. Soilwork spent the summer appearing at festivals throughout Europe. In September they toured throughout the UK and Turkey. The band later pulled out of the Turkish dates, due to terrorist attacks and bombings that had recently occurred to tourists there. In October the band trekked North America, this time with Darkest Hour, Mnemic and Threat Signal.


title: Soilwork

text: In early March 2007, Soilwork began laying down the tracks for their seventh album, "Sworn to a Great Divide" Late in June, Ola Frenning announced that the album was finished. Soilwork toured in the fall alongside Caliban, Sonic Syndicate, and Dark Tranquillity in a tour dubbed, 'Eastpak Antidote' tour. The album was released on 19 October 2007 through Nuclear Blast. The album sports a sound closer to thrash than their previous albums, though still backed by their trademark synth elements. The band took part on an American tour with co-headliners Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage, as well as DevilDriver. The tour began on 28 November 2007 at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts, and ended at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico on 17 December 2007. The tour, dubbed The Clash of the Titans Tour 2007, appeared in Grand Prairie, TX at the Nokia Live Theatre on 8 December 2007 to play for the entire Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. On 12 February 2008, an official statement was posted on Soilwork's official website that Ola Frenning and Soilwork had decided to part ways, his replacement came in the form of Sylvain Coudret. In another statement on 18 September 2008, it was revealed that guitarist Daniel Antonsson would be replaced with the return of former guitarist and founding member Peter Wichers and also that Sylvain Coudret from the band Scarve who has been doing session work as second guitarist during 2008 Summer festivals became permanent guitar player for the band.


title: Soilwork

text: The band returned to the studio in early 2010 to write and record their eighth album, later on with Strid announcing on 22 January 2010 in a MySpace bulletin that the new album would be entitled "The Panic Broadcast". On 30 June 2010, "" greatest hits comlilation album was released, followed shortly by the band's new album "The Panic Broadcast" on 2 July in Europe, and 13 July in North America.


title: Soilwork

text: Soilwork announced on 26 June 2012 that Peter Wichers has left Soilwork for the second time. Following the departure, Peter was replaced by David Andersson.


title: Soilwork

text: Strid began to think of the band's next album as a double album during a 2011 tour. He wanted to challenge himself, instead of releasing a single album after Wicher's departure. He also wanted to show that the band could release a great album with one of their main composers gone. He wrote two songs by the end of the year, and began writing with the band in March 2012. Soilwork announced they would begin recording 23 August 2012.


title: Soilwork

text: The album, titled "The Living Infinite", was released on 27 February 2013 in Asia, 1 March in Europe, 4 March in the UK and 5 March in North America.


title: Soilwork

text: On 24 September 2014, Soilwork released an EP, "Beyond the Infinite" only in Asia. The EP consists of 5 unreleased tracks from the band's "The Living Infinite" album sessions.


title: Soilwork

text: On 5 December 2014, Soilwork frontman Strid confirmed that work had begun on a new album when he posted a picture on Facebook of him listening to new demos. Strid also stated that Soilwork are sounding "better than ever". It was also confirmed that Soilwork had teamed up with Testament frontman Chuck Billy's Breaking Bands LLC management company for the album.


title: Soilwork

text: In June 2015, Soilwork announced that longtime bassist Ola Flink and the band had parted ways and that he would be replaced by new bassist Markus Wibom.


title: Soilwork

text: Soilwork supported Soulfly on their 2015 We Sold Our Souls To Metal Tour. Decapitated and Shattered Sun also joins the tour, scheduled for a 27 concert trek starting on 30 September and ending in Albuquerque, NM on 30 October. Then, Soilwork goes on a European tour as headliner with HateSphere and French band T.A.N.K.


title: Soilwork

text: On 15 July 2016, it was announced that long time drummer Dirk Verbeuren had left the band to join Megadeth.


title: Soilwork

text: On 19 August 2016, Soilwork released a compilation album, "Death Resonance", which featured a number of B-sides and rarities from five of their previous albums in addition to two new songs.


title: Soilwork

text: On 11 January 2019, Soilwork released "Verkligheten", their first album with new drummer Bastian Thusgaard, and their first album in nearly four years. On 14 June 2019, the band officially released the "Underworld" EP, which consists of bonus tracks originally previously only available on physical editions of the band's recent "Verkligheten" album.


title: Soilwork

text: On 4 December 2020, Soilwork released an EP "A Whisp of the Atlantic", which is composed of songs the band recorded and released from late 2019 to mid 2020, along with the ambitious 16-minute title-piece that opens the EP.


title: Soilwork

text: Soilwork announced in early 2022 that bassist Rasmus Ehrnborn had joined the band officially and contributed to the band's twelfth studio album, "Övergivenheten", which was released on 19 August 2022.


title: Soilwork

text: On 14 September 2022, it was announced that guitarist and songwriter David Andersson, who had been in the band for 10 years, died at the age of 47.


title: Secret Hitler

text: Secret Hitler is a hidden identity social deduction party game developed by Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC, manufactured by Breaking Games and distributed by Blackbox. The board game was designed by Max Temkin, Mike Boxleiter and Tommy Maranges, with artwork created by Mackenzie Schubert, and first released on August 25, 2016. In "Secret Hitler", players assume the roles of liberals and fascists in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic, with one player becoming Hitler. To win the game, both parties are set to competitively enact liberal and fascist policies respectively, or complete a secondary objective directly related to the Hitler role.


title: Secret Hitler

text: "Secret Hitler" sees players divided into two teams: the liberals and the fascists, the latter also including the Hitler role. There are always more liberals than there are fascists in each game. When playing with five or six players, there are only two fascists, one of whom is Hitler, and they both know one another. In games of at least seven players, the identity of Hitler is known to all other fascists, while the identities of the fascists are unknown to Hitler.


title: Secret Hitler

text: At the start of each round, the player to the left of the previous President becomes the new President (the first President is chosen randomly). The President nominates a candidate for the Chancellorship, and every player, including the proposed government, votes either ""Ja!"" (yes) or ""Nein"" (no) to the proposal. The Chancellor candidate cannot be the current President nor the previously elected Chancellor.


title: Secret Hitler

text: If more than half of the players vote for the player currently nominated as the Chancellor, that player is granted the office and becomes the new Chancellor. After each successful election, the President blindly draws three policy cards, each of which could be "liberal" or "fascist". The President then discards one of these cards before giving the other two to the Chancellor, who in turn selects which of these will be passed and enacted, ending the round. There are 6 liberal policy cards and 11 fascist policy cards in the deck at the start of the game. After the end of each round, the Presidential role is passed onto the player to the left.


title: Secret Hitler

text: If the election ends in a tie or more than half of the players vote against the player currently nominated as the Chancellor, the election is considered unsuccessful. Every time an election fails, the Election Tracker is counted up by one and the Presidential role is passed on, ending the round. Whenever three consecutive elections have failed, the policy on top of the draw pile is enacted without oversight by the President or the Chancellor, and the Election Tracker is reset. The Election Tracker is also reset if a Chancellor is elected.


title: Secret Hitler

text: While enacting a liberal policy will have no direct effect on the game, passing a fascist policy may grant the President special executive actions named "Presidential Powers", including the ability to privately check the three top cards of the deck; investigate a player's party membership; choose the next round's President via a special election; or assassinate a player. These powers are activated by covering up a fascist policy tracker space that has an ability written in it, after which that power has to be resolved before ending the round. Passing five fascist policies unlocks the ability to exercise the veto power for the rest of the game. Whenever the veto power is used, the Election Tracker is counted up by one before the end of the round.


title: Secret Hitler

text: The game ends when either five liberal policies or six fascist policies have been enacted, resulting in victory for whichever party has achieved that policy count requirement. Additionally, after three fascist policies have been passed, the fascists can win by having Hitler elected Chancellor. Whenever the President is required to assassinate a player, the liberals can win by having Hitler assassinated. If the assassinated player is not Hitler, the game continues without the remaining players knowing whether the assassinated player was a liberal or a fascist.


title: Secret Hitler

text: "Secret Hitler" was designed by Max Temkin (the co-creator of "Cards Against Humanity" and Humans vs. Zombies), Mike Boxleiter (co-founder of Mikengreg, the video game developer behind "Solipskier" and "TouchTone") and Tommy Maranges (the writer of "Philosophy Bro"), and was illustrated by Mackenzie Schubert (illustrator of games such as "Letter Tycoon" and "Penny Press"), collectively known as Goat, Wolf, & Cabbage LLC. The development team worked out of office space provided by the "Cards Against Humanity" team for new game designers. The original concept was developed by Boxleiter and Maranges as means to re-engineer the gameplay of Avalon, with Temkin adding significant influence from Werewolf variations. On November 23, 2015, Temkin launched a Kickstarter campaign for the game seeking $54,450. The project was successfully funded by 200% within the first 24 hours, and the campaign ended on December 23, 2015, with a total of $1,479,046 pledged by 34,565 contributors, making it one of the most successful tabletop games in Kickstarter's history. Meanwhile, a freeware print-and-play edition of "Secret Hitler" was released on November 25, 2015, under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Creative Commons license.


title: Secret Hitler

text: "Secret Hitler" first shipped for Kickstarter backers, in multiple waves starting on August 25, 2016, and was released to retail shortly after. The game is produced by Breaking Games, a division of "Cards Against Humanity" manufacturer AdMagic, and distributed by Blackbox, a shipping company founded by the creators of "Cards Against Humanity", including "Secret Hitler" designer Temkin. An official, Wil Wheaton-narrated companion app, "Secret Hitler Companion", was launched alongside "Secret Hitler", for Android and iOS.


title: Secret Hitler

text: In February 2017, free copies of "Secret Hitler" were shipped to all 100 members of the United States Senate. "The Trump Pack", an expansion pack for "Secret Hitler", which replaces the fascists' cards with Donald Trump and prominent members of his administration at the time (respectively Sean Spicer, Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon and Mike Pence), was released in June 2017, with all proceeds generated from the pack's sales donated to the American Civil Liberties Union.


title: Secret Hitler

text: A board game review in The Wirecutter stated that the game has a steep learning curve because of its complex rules. It also stated it has a "potentially offensive theme".


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The Kingdom of Gwynedd (Medieval Latin: ; Middle Welsh: ) 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.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Based in northwest Wales, the rulers of Gwynedd repeatedly rose to dominance and were acclaimed as "King of the Britons" before losing their power in civil wars or invasions. The kingdom of Gruffydd ap Llywelynthe King of Wales from 1055 to 1063was shattered by a Saxon invasion in 1063 just prior to the Norman invasion of Wales, but the House of Aberffraw restored by Gruffudd ap Cynan slowly recovered and Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was able to proclaim the Principality of Wales at the Aberdyfi gathering of Welsh princes in 1216. In 1277, the Treaty of Aberconwy between Edward I of England and Llewelyn's grandson Llywelyn ap Gruffudd granted peace between the two but would also guarantee that Welsh self-rule would end upon Llewelyn's death, and so it represented the completion of the first stage of the conquest of Wales by Edward I.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Welsh tradition credited the founding of Gwynedd to the Brittonic polity of Gododdin (Old Welsh , earlier Brittonic form "Votadini") from Lothian invading the lands of the Brittonic polities of the Deceangli, Ordovices, and Gangani in the 5th century. The sons of their leader, Cunedda, were said to have possessed the land between the rivers Dee and Teifi. The true borders of the realm varied over time, but Gwynedd proper was generally thought to comprise the cantrefs of Aberffraw, Cemais, and Cantref Rhosyr on Anglesey and Arllechwedd, Arfon, Dunoding, Dyffryn Clwyd, Llŷn, Rhos, Rhufoniog, and Tegeingl at the mountainous mainland region of Snowdonia opposite.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The name "Gwynedd" is believed to be an early borrowing from Irish (reflective of Irish settlement in the area in antiquity), either cognate with the Old Irish ethnic name , "Irish People", from Primitive Irish * "Forest People"/"Wild People" (from Proto-Indo-European *' "wood, wilderness"), or (alternatively) Old Irish "war band", from Proto-Irish * (from Proto-Indo-European *' "chase, pursue, suppress").


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Ptolemy in the 1st century marks the Llŷn Peninsula as the "Promontory of the Gangani", which is also a name he recorded in Ireland, it's theorised in the 1st century BC some of the Gangani tribe may have landed in what is now the Llŷn Peninsula and drove out the Deceangli or the Ordovices tribe from that area either peacefully or by force. The late and post-Roman eras, Irish from Leinster may have arrived in Anglesey and elsewhere in northwest Wales with the name "Llŷn" derived from "Laigin", an Old Irish form that means "Leinstermen, or simply Leinster."


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The 5th-century Cantiorix Inscription now in Penmachno church seems to be the earliest record of the name. It is in memory of a man named Cantiorix, and the Latin inscription is : "Cantiorix lies here. He was a citizen of Gwynedd and a cousin of Maglos the magistrate". The use of terms such as "citizen" and "magistrate" may be cited as evidence that Romano-British culture and institutions continued in Gwynedd long after the legions had withdrawn.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The background involving the Kingdom of Gwynedd starts with the history of Wales. After the last ice age, Wales was settled during the prehistoric times. Stone Age sites have been discovered with tools made from flint, such as near Llanfaethlu, a site was rediscovered from 6000 years ago which was originally used for cooking. Further examples of human activity in Gwynedd and Anglesey are involved in places such as Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey, which was built in phases starting 5000 years ago. Archeological findings from the Bronze Age, millenniums ago include findings such as the Arthog cauldron, a bronze cauldron from 1100 BC found near the Merioneth border, also named 'The Nannau Bucket' (similar to the Dowris bucket). And the Moel Hebog shield which is also 3,000 years old (similar to the Rhyd-y-gors example), and more recently the Trawsfynydd tankard, which was used to drink mead and beer between 100 BC and 75 AD.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Examples of early settlement in Gwynedd are Bryn Eryr near Llansadwrn, Anglesey, now found at the St Fagans National Museum of History, and Garn Boduan, a Celtic hillfort on the Llŷn Peninsula. Iron Age forts were being adapted until after the Roman conquest of Britain, 'Castle of Buan' (Garn Boduan) in Llŷn was recorded as being fortified until the 7th century. During the Roman period, new roads and forts were constructed throughout the Roman empire and for centuries in Wales and England, Welsh examples include Caer Gybi (fort) on Anglesey, and Segontium in Caernarfon, Gwynedd. Also the establishment of Christianity in Wales gave rise to a new era, the Romans founded towns with churches, and installed governors. During the centuries of sub-Roman Britain, new political structures were established. The Brythonic Kingdom of Gwynedd was established in the 5th century, and it proved to be the most durable of these Brythonic states, surviving until the late 13th century.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Boundaries and names emerging from the 1st millennium AD onwards are still being used today to define towns and counties of the region. Noteworthy descendants from the Kingdom of Gwynedd include royalty such as Owain Glyndŵr, and the titular Prince of Wales, also the Salusbury family via Katheryn of Berain. The people mentioned can be associated with the Anglesey based Tudors of Penmynydd family. The Tudors were ancestors and namesake to the former English Royal House of Tudor, they were descended from the Welshman Maredudd ap Tudur, Ednyfed Fychan being his famous ancestor, his family were seneschals to the Kings of Gwynedd. The Tudor dynasty became ancestors to the House of Stuart, and the Stuarts formed the European Jacobite family, they include direct descendants in United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy and other countries on the continent of Europe, and all around the world.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The region became known as "Venedotia" in Latin. The name was initially attributed to a specific Irish colony on Anglesey but broadened to refer to Irish settlers as a whole in North Wales by the 5th century. According to 9th-century monk and chronicler Nennius, North Wales was left defenseless by the Roman withdrawal and subject to increasing raids by marauders from the Isle of Man and Ireland, a situation which led Cunedda, his sons and their entourage, to migrate in the mid-5th century from "Manaw Gododdin" (now Clackmannanshire) to settle and defend North Wales against the raiders and bring the region within Romano-British control. Whether they were invited to keep out the invaders or were raiders themselves however is unknown. According to traditional pedigrees, Cunedda's grandfather was Padarn Beisrudd, "Paternus of the red cloak", "an epithet which suggests that he wore the cloak of a Roman officer", and perhaps it was evidence of a high-ranking officer. Nennius (translated by John Allen Giles who wrote that Cunedda arrived in Gwynedd 146 years before the reign of his great-grandson Maelgwn backdated in the usual Welsh Calendrical calculations from his death date in 547, which makes 401 the year of his arrival ) recounts how Cunedda (flourished in the 5th century) brought order to North Wales and after his death Gwynedd was divided among his sons: Dynod was awarded "Dunoding", another son Ceredig received "Ceredigion"," Afloeg by Aflogion in Lleyn, Dogfael by Dogfeiling in Dyffryn Clwyd, and Edern by Edeirnion ... Osfeilion of Osfael has not yet been located; Tybion, the eldest son, is said to have died in Manaw Gododdin, but his son Meirion (Marianus) comes into the picture as lord of Meirionydd. Einion Yrth completes the number". Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion one of his grandsons, was the final leader to defeat of the Irish on Anglesey. However, this overly neat origin myth has been met with scepticism,


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The inhabitants of Gwynedd remained conscious of their Romano-British heritage, and an affinity with Rome survived long after the Empire retreated from Britain, particularly with the use of Latin in writing and sustaining the Christian religion. The ruling classes continued to emphasise Roman ancestors within their pedigrees as a way to link their rule with the old imperial Roman order, suggesting stability and continuity with that old order. According to Professor John Davies, "[T]here is a determinedly Brythonic, and indeed Roman, air to early Gwynedd." So palpable was the Roman heritage felt that Professor Bryan Ward-Perkins of Trinity College, Oxford, wrote "It took until 1282, when Edward I conquered Gwynedd, for the last part of Roman Britain to fall [and] a strong case can be made for Gwynedd as the very last part of the entire Roman Empire, east and west, to fall to the barbarians." Nevertheless, there was generally quick abandonment of Roman political, social, and ecclesiastical practices and institutions within Gwynedd and elsewhere in Wales. Roman knowledge was lost as the Romano-Britons shifted towards a streamlined militaristic near-tribal society that no longer included the use of coinage and other complex industries dependent on a money economy, architectural techniques using brick and mortar, and even more basic knowledge such as the use of the wheel in pottery production. Ward-Perkins suggests the Welsh had to abandon those Roman ways that proved insufficient, or indeed superfluous, to meet the challenge of survival they faced: "Militarized tribal societies, despite their political fragmentation and internecine strife, seem to have offered better protection against Germanic invasion than exclusive dependence on a professional Roman army (that in the troubled years of the fifth century was all too prone to melt away or mutiny)."


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Reverting to a more militaristic tribal society allowed the Welsh of Gwynedd to concentrate on those martial skills necessary for their very survival, and the Romano-Britons of western Britain did offer stiffer and an ultimately successful resistance. The region of Venedotia, however, had been under Roman military administration and included established Gaelic settlements, and the civilian element there was less extensive, perhaps facilitating technological loss.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In the post-Roman period, the earliest rulers of Wales and Gwynedd may have exerted authority over regions no larger than the "cantrefi" (hundreds) described in Welsh law codified centuries later, with their size somewhat comparable in size to the Irish "tuath". These early petty kings or princelings (Lloyd uses the term "chieftain") adopted the title "rhi" in Welsh (akin to the Irish Gaelic "rí"), later replaced by "brenin", a title used to "denote a less archaic form of kingship," according to Professor John Davies. Genealogical lists compiled around 960 bear out that a number of these early rulers claimed degrees of association with the old Roman order, but do not appear in the official royal lineages. "It may be assumed that the stronger kings annexed the territories of their weaker neighbours and that the lineages of the victors are the only lineages to have survived," according to Davies. Smaller and weaker chieftains coalesced around more powerful princelings, sometimes through voluntary vassalage or inheritance, though at other times through conquest, and the lesser princelings coalesced around still greater princelings, until a regional prince could claim authority over the whole of north Wales from the River Dyfi in the south to the Dee in the east, and incorporating Anglesey.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Other evidence supports Nennius's claim that a leader came to north Wales and brought the region a measure of stability although an Irish Gaelic element remained until the mid-5th century. Cunedda's heir Einion Yrth ap Cunedda defeated the remaining Gaelic Irish on Anglesey by 470, while his son, Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion, appears to have consolidated the realm during the time of relative peace following the Battle of Badon, where the Anglo-Saxons were defeated. During that peace he established a mighty kingdom. After Cadwallon, Gwynedd appears to have held a pre-eminent position among the petty Cambrian states in the post-Roman period. The great-grandson of Cunedda, Maelgwn Hir (Maelgwn the Tall), was regarded as an able military leader, impetuous and generous. There are several legends about his life concerning either his own trickery and craftiness or, on the other hand, miracles performed against him by Christian saints. He is attributed in some old stories as hosting the first Eisteddfod, and he is also one of five Celtic British kings castigated for their sins by the contemporary Christian writer Gildas (who referred to him as Maglocunus, meaning 'Prince-Hound' in Brittonic), written in the "De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae". Maelgwn was curiously described as "the dragon of the island" by Gildas which was possibly a title, but explicitly as the most powerful of the five named British kings. "[Y]ou the last I write of but the first and greatest in evil, more than many in ability but also in malice, more generous in giving but also more liberal in sin, strong in war but stronger to destroy your soul."


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Maelgwn eventually died from the plague in 547, leaving a succession crisis in his wake. His son-in-law, Elidyr Mwynfawr of the Kingdom of Strathclyde, claimed the throne and invaded Gwynedd to displace Maelgwn's son, Rhun Hir ap Maelgwn. Elidyr was killed in the attempt, but his death was then avenged by his relatives, who ravaged the coast of Arfon. Rhun counter-attacked and exacted the same penalty on the lands of his foes in what is now South and Central Scotland. The long distances these armies travelled suggests they were moving across the Irish Sea, but, because almost all of what is now northern England was at this point (c. 550) under Brittonic rule, it is possible that his army marched to Strathclyde overland. Rhun returned to Gwynedd, and the rest of his reign was for the majority uneventful until the relatives of Elidir renewed their aggressions against Rhun who was killed in the conflict. He was succeeded by his son or in some accounts nephew Beli in c. 586.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: On the accession of Beli's son Iago ap Beli in c. 599, the situation in Britain had deteriorated significantly. Most of northern England had been overrun by the invading Angles of Deira and Bernicia, who were in the process of forming the Kingdom of Northumbria. In a rare show of common interest, it appears that Gwynedd and the neighbouring Kingdom of Powys acted in concert to rebuff the Anglian advance but were defeated at the Battle of Chester in 613. Following this catastrophe, the approximate borders of northern Wales were set with the city of Caerlleon (now called Chester) and the surrounding Cheshire Plain falling under the control of the Anglo-Saxons. Beli's grandson was Cadfan ap Iago from the line of Maelgwn, his tombstone in Gwynedd wrote in (most renowned), he was an ancestor of the future Kings of Gwynedd.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The Battle of Chester did not end the ability of the Welsh to seriously threaten the Anglo-Saxon polities. Among the most powerful of the early kings was Cadwallon ap Cadfan (c. 624 – 634), grandson of Iago ap Beli. He became engaged in an initially disastrous campaign against Northumbria where following a series of epic defeats he was confined first to Anglesey, and then just to Puffin Island, before being forced into exile across the Irish Sea to Dublin, – a place which would come to host many royal refugees from Gwynedd. All must have seemed lost but Cadwallon () raised an enormous army and after a brief time in Guernsey he invaded Dumnonia, relieved the West Welsh who were suffering a Mercian invasion and forced the pagan Penda of Mercia into an alliance against Northumbria. With new vigour Cadwallon returned to his Northumbrian foes, defeated their armies and slew a series of their kings. In this furious campaign his armies devastated Northumbria, captured and sacked York in 633 and briefly controlled the kingdom. At this time, according to Bede, many Northumbrians were slaughtered, "with savage cruelty", by Cadwallon.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Despite the war, and 14 battles undertaken by the allied forces of Gwynedd and Mercia against Northumbria, of which the chief one was the Battle of Cefn Digoll in 632, an alliance was concluded when Cadwallon married Alcfritha, daughter of Pybba of Mercia. However, the effect of these tumultuous events would come to be short-lived, for he died in battle in 634 close to Hadrian's Wall, at the battle of Battle of Heavenfield. On account of these deeds, he and his son Cadwaladr, (who fought at the Battle of the Winwaed) appear to have been considered the last two High Kings of Britain. Cadwaladr presided over a period of consolidation and devoted much time to the Church, earning the title ""Bendigaid"" for "Blessed". As a monk in later life, he was involved with Clynnog's abbey, and St Cadwaladr's Church, Llangadwaladr on Anglesey. The Tudors of Penmynydd and Henry VII of England in particular claimed descent from Cadwaladr in the "twenty second degree" and it was he (Harri Tudor) who raised his 'Red Dragon' banner at the Battle of Bosworth Field.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: During the later 9th and 10th centuries, the coastal areas of Gwynedd, particularly Anglesey, were coming under increasing attack by the Vikings. These raids no doubt had a seriously debilitating effect on the country but fortunately for Gwynedd, the victims of the Vikings were not confined to Wales. The House of Cunedda – as the direct descendants of Cunedda are known – eventually expired in the male line in 825 upon the death of Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog and, as John Edward Lloyd put it, "a stranger possessed the throne of Gwynedd."


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: This "stranger" who became the next King of Gwynedd was Merfyn "Frych" (Merfyn "the Freckled"). When, however, Merfyn Frych's pedigree is examined – and to the Welsh pedigree meant everything – he seems not a stranger but a direct descendant of the ancient ruling line. He was the son of Gwriad, the contemporaneous king of the Isle of Man and depending on the source either son or husband of Essyllt daughter of Cynan Dindaethwy a former King of Gwynedd. The most ancient genealogical sources agree that Merfyn was the son of Essyllt, heiress and cousin of the aforementioned Hywel ap Caradog, last of the ruling House of Cunedda in Gwynedd, and that Merfyn's male line went back to the Hen Ogledd to Llywarch Hen, a first cousin of Urien and thus a direct descendant of Coel Hen. Thus the House of Cunedda and the new House of Aberffraw, as Merfyn's descendants came to be known, shared Coel Hen as a common ancestor, although the House of Cunedda traced their line through Gwawl his daughter and wife of Cunedda.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Merfyn married Nest ferch Cadell, the sister of Cyngen ap Cadell, the King of Powys, and founded the house of Aberffraw, named after his principal court on Anglesey. No written records are preserved from the Britons of southern Scotland and northern England and it is very likely that Merfyn Frych brought many of these legends as well as his pedigree with him when he came to north Wales. It appears most probable that it was at Merfyn's court that all the lore of the north was collected and written down during his reign and that of his son.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Rhodri the Great (844–878), son of Merfyn Frych and Nest ferch Cadell, was able to add Powys to his realm after its king (his maternal uncle) died on pilgrimage to Rome in 855. Later, he married Angharad ferch Meurig, the sister of King Gwgon of Seisyllwg. When Gwgon drowned without heir in 872, Rhodri became steward over the kingdom and able to install his son, Cadell ap Rhodri, as a subject king. Thus, he became the first ruler since the days of Cunedda to control the greater part of Wales.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: When Rhodri died in 878 the relative unity of Wales ended and it was once again divided into its component parts each ruled by one of his sons. Rhodri's eldest son Anarawd ap Rhodri inherited Gwynedd and would firmly establish the princely House of Aberffraw that would come to rule Gwynedd with but a few interruptions until 1283.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: From the successes of Rhodri and the seniority of Anarawd among his sons the Aberffraw family claimed primacy over all other Welsh lords including the powerful kings of Powys and Deheubarth. In "The History of Gruffudd ap Cynan", written in the late 12th century, the family asserted its rights as the senior line of descendants from Rhodri the Great who had conquered most of Wales during his lifetime. Gruffudd ap Cynan's biography was first written in Latin and intended for a wider audience outside Wales. The significance of this claim was that the Aberffraw family owed nothing to the English king for its position in Wales, and that they held authority in Wales "by absolute right through descent," wrote historian John Davies.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The House of Aberffraw was displaced in 942 by Hywel Dda, a King of Deheubarth from a junior line of descent from Rhodri Mawr. This occurred because Idwal Foel, the King of Gwynedd, was determined to cast off English overlordship and took up arms against the new English king, Edmund I. Idwal and his brother Elisedd were both killed in battle against Edmund's forces. By normal custom Idwal's crown should have passed to his sons, Ieuaf and Iago ab Idwal, but Hywel Dda intervened and sent Iago and Ieuaf into exile in Ireland and established himself as ruler over Gwynedd until his death in 950 when the House of Aberffraw was restored. Nonetheless, surviving manuscripts of "Cyfraith Hywel" recognise the importance of the lords of Aberffraw as overlords of Wales along with the rulers of Deheubarth.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Between 986 and 1081 the throne of Gwynedd was often in contention with the rightful kings frequently displaced by rivals within and outside the realm. One of these, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, originally from Powys, displaced the Aberffraw line from Gwynedd making himself ruler there, and by 1055 was able to make himself king of most of Wales. He became powerful enough to present a real menace to England and annexed some neighbouring parts after several victories over English armies. Eventually he was defeated by Harold Godwinson in 1063 and later killed by his own men in a deal to secure peace with England. Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Rhiwallon of the Mathrafal dynasty of Powys, Gruffudd's maternal half-brothers, came to terms with Harold and took over the rule of Gwynedd and Powys.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Shortly after the Norman conquest of England in 1066 the Normans began to exert pressure on the eastern border of Gwynedd. They were helped by internal strife following the killing of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn in 1075 by his second cousin Rhys ap Owain King of Deheubarth. Another relative of Bleddyn's Trahaearn ap Caradog seized the throne but was soon challenged by Gruffudd ap Cynan, the exiled grandson of Iago ab Idwal ap Meurig who had been living in the Norse–Gael stronghold of Dublin. In 1081 Trahaearn was killed by Gruffudd in battle and the ancient line of Rhodri Mawr was restored.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The Aberffraw dynasty suffered various depositions by rivals in Deheubarth, Powys, and England in the 10th and 11th centuries. Gruffudd ap Cynan (c. 1055–1137), who grew up in exile in Norse–Gael Dublin, regained his inheritance following his victory at the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081 over his Mathrafal rivals then in control of Gwynedd. However, Gruffudd's victory was short-lived as the Normans launched an invasion of Wales following the Saxon revolt in northern England, known as the Harrowing of the North.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Shortly after the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081, Gruffudd was lured into a trap with the promise of an alliance but seized by Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, in an ambush near Corwen. Earl Hugh claimed the Perfeddwlad up to the River Clwyd (the commotes of Tegeingl and Rhufoniog; the modern counties of "Denbighshire, Flintshire", and "Wrexham") as part of Chester, and viewed the restoration of the Aberffraw family in Gwynedd as a threat to his own expansion into Wales. The lands west of the Clwyd were intended for his cousin Robert of Rhuddlan, and their advance extended to the Llŷn Peninsula by 1090. By 1094 almost the whole of Wales was occupied by Norman forces. However, although they erected many castles, Norman control in most regions of Wales was tenuous at best. Motivated by local anger over the "gratuitously cruel" invaders, and led by the historic ruling houses, Welsh control over the greater part of Wales was restored by 1100.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In an effort to further consolidate his control over Gwynedd, Earl Hugh of Chester had Hervey le Breton elected as Bishop of Bangor in 1092, and consecrated by Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop of York. However, the Welsh parishioners remained hostile to Hervey's appointment, and the bishop was forced to carry a sword with him and rely on a contingent of Norman knights for his protection. Additionally, Hervey routinely excommunicated parishioners who he perceived as challenging his spiritual and temporal authority.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Gruffudd escaped imprisonment in Chester, and slew Robert of Rhuddlan in a beachside battle at Deganwy on 3 July 1093. Gruffudd recovered Gwynedd by 1095, and by 1098 Gruffudd allied with Cadwgan ap Bleddyn of the Mathrafal house of Powys, their traditional dynastic rivalry notwithstanding. Gruffudd and Cadwgan led the Welsh resistance to the Norman occupation in north and mid Wales. However, by 1098 Earl Hugh of Chester and Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury advanced their army to the Menai Strait, with Gruffudd and Cadwgan regrouping on defensible Anglesey, where they planned to make retaliatory strikes from their island fortress. Gruffudd hired a Norse fleet from a settlement in Ireland to patrol the Menai and prevent the Norman army from crossing; however, the Normans were able to pay off the fleet to instead ferry "them" to Môn. Betrayed, Gruffudd and Cadwgan were forced to flee to Ireland in a skiff.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The Normans landed on Anglesey, and their furious 'victory celebrations' which followed were exceptionally violent, with rape and carnage committed by the Norman army left unchecked. The earl of Shrewsbury had an elderly priest mutilated, and made the church of Llandyfrydog a kennel for his dogs.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: During the 'celebrations' a Norse fleet led by Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, appeared off the coast at Puffin Island, and in the battle that followed, known as the Battle of Anglesey Sound, Magnus shot dead the earl of Shrewsbury with an arrow to the eye. The Norse left as suddenly and as mysteriously as they had arrived, leaving the Norman army weakened and demoralised.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The Norman army retired to England, leaving a Welshman, Owain ab Edwin of Tegeingl, in command of a token force to control Ynys Môn and upper Gwynedd, and ultimately abandoning any colonisation plans there. Owain ap Edwin transferred his allegiance to Chester following the defeat of his ally Trahaearn ap Caradog in 1081, a move which earned him the epithet "Bradwr" "the Traitor" (), among the Welsh.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In late 1098 Gruffudd and Cadwgan landed in Wales and recovered Angelsey without much difficulty, with Hervé the Breton fleeing Bangor for safety in England. Over the course of the next three years, Gruffudd was able to recover upper Gwynedd to the Conwy, defeating Hugh, Earl of Chester. In 1101, after Earl Hugh's death, Gruffudd and Cadwgan came to terms with England's new king, Henry I, who was consolidating his own authority and also eager to come to terms. In the negotiations which followed Henry I recognised Gruffudd's ancestral claims of Angelsey, Llŷn, Dunoding (Eifionydd and Ardudwy) and Arllechwedd, being the lands of upper Gwynedd to the Conwy which were already firmly in Gruffudd's control. Cadwgan regained Ceredigion, and his share of the family inheritance in Powys, from the new earl of Shrewsbury, Robert of Bellême.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: With the settlement reached between Henry I and Gruffudd, and other Welsh lords, the dividing of Wales between "Pura Wallia", the lands under Welsh control; and "Marchia Wallie", Welsh lands under Norman control, came into existence. Author and historian John Davies notes that the border shifted on occasion, "in one direction and in the other", but remained more or less stable for almost the next two hundred years.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: After generations of incessant warfare, Gruffudd began the reconstruction of Gwynedd, intent on bringing stability to his country. According to Davies, Gruffudd sought to give his people the peace to "plant their crops in the full confidence that they would be able to harvest them". Gruffudd consolidated royal authority in north Wales, and offered sanctuary to displaced Welsh from the Perfeddwlad, particularly from Rhos, at the time harassed by Richard, 2nd Earl of Chester.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Alarmed by Gruffudd's growing influence and authority in north Wales, and on pretext that Gruffudd sheltered rebels from Rhos against Chester, Henry I launched a campaign against Gwynedd and Powys in 1116, which included a vanguard commanded by King Alexander I of Scotland. While Owain ap Cadwgan of Ceredigion sought refuge in Gwynedd's mountains, Maredudd ap Bleddyn of Powys made peace with the English king as the Norman army advanced. There were no battles or skirmishes fought in the face of the vast host brought into Wales; rather, Owain and Gruffudd entered into truce negotiations. Owain ap Cadwgan regained royal favour relatively easily. However, Gruffudd was forced to render homage and fealty and pay a heavy fine, though he lost no land or prestige.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The invasion left a lasting impact on Gruffudd, who by 1116 was in his 60s and with failing eyesight. For the remainder of his life, while Gruffudd continued to rule in Gwynedd, his sons Cadwallon, Owain, and Cadwaladr, would lead Gwynedd's army after 1120. Gruffudd's policy, which his sons would execute and later rulers of Gwynedd adopted, was to recover Gwynedd's primacy without blatantly antagonising the English crown.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In 1120 a minor border war between Llywarch ab Owain, lord of a commote in the Dyffryn Clwyd cantref, and Hywel ab Ithel, lord of Rhufoniog and Rhos, brought Powys and Chester into conflict in the Perfeddwlad. Powys brought a force of 400 warriors to the aid of its ally Rhufoniog, while Chester sent Norman knights from Rhuddlan to the aid of Dyffryn Clwyd. The bloody Battle of Maes Maen Cymro, fought northwest of Ruthin, ended with Llywarch ab Owain slain and the defeat of Dyffryn Clwyd. However, it was a pyrrhic victory as the battle left Hywel ab Ithel mortally wounded. The last of his line, when Hywel ab Ithel died six weeks later, he left Rhufoniog and Rhos bereft. Powys, however, was not strong enough to garrison Rhufoniog and Rhos, nor was Chester able to exert influence inland from its coastal holdings of Rhuddlan and Degannwy. With Rhufoniog and Rhos abandoned, Gruffudd annexed the cantrefs.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: On the death of Einion ap Cadwgan, lord of Meirionnydd, a quarrel engulfed his kinsmen on who should succeed him. Meirionnydd was then a vassal cantref of Powys, and the family there a cadet of the Mathrafal house of Powys. Gruffudd gave licence to his sons Cadwallon and Owain to press the opportunity the dynastic strife in Meirionnydd presented. The brothers raided Meirionnydd with the Lord of Powys as important there as he was in the Perfeddwlad. However it would not be until 1136 that the cantref was firmly within Gwynedd's control. Perhaps because of their support of Earl Hugh of Chester, Gwynedd's rival, in 1124 Cadwallon slew the three rulers of Dyffryn Clwyd, his maternal uncles, bringing the cantref firmly under Gwynedd's vassalage that year. And in 1125 Cadwallon slew the grandsons of Edwin ap Goronwy of Tegeingl, leaving Tegeingl bereft of lordship. However, in 1132 while on campaign in the commote of Nanheudwy, near Llangollen, 'victorious' Cadwallon was defeated in battle and slain by an army from Powys. The defeat checked Gwynedd's expansion for a time, "much to the relief of the men of Powys", wrote historian Sir John Edward Lloyd (J.E Lloyd).


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In 1136 a campaign against the Normans was launched from Gwynedd in revenge for the execution of Gwenllian ferch Gruffudd ap Cynan, the wife of the King of Deheubarth and the daughter of Gruffudd. When word reached Gwynedd of Gwenllian's death and the revolt in Gwent, Gruffudd's sons Owain and Cadwaladr invaded Norman controlled Ceredigion, taking Llanfihangle, Aberystwyth, and Llanbadarn. Liberating Llanbadarn, one local chronicler hailed Owain and Cadwaladr both as "bold lions, virtuous, fearless and wise, who guard the churches and their indwellers, defenders of the poor [who] overcome their enemies, affording a safest retreat to all those who seek their protection". The brothers restored the Welsh monks of Llanbadarn, who had been displaced by monks from Gloucester brought there by the Normans who had controlled Ceredigion. By late September 1136 a vast Welsh host gathered in Ceredigion, which included the combined forces of Gwynedd, Deheubarth, and Powys, and met the Norman army at the Battle of Crug Mawr at Cardigan Castle. The battle turned into a rout, and then into a resounding defeat of the Normans.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: When their father Gruffudd died in 1137, the brothers Owain and Cadwaladr were on a second campaign in Ceredigion, and took the castles of Ystrad Meurig, Lampeter ("Stephen's Castle"), and Castell Hywell ("Humphries Castle") Gruffudd ap Cynan left a more stable realm than had hitherto existed in Gwynedd for more than 100 years. No foreign army was able to cross the Conwy into upper Gwynedd. The stability of Gruffudd's long reign allowed for Gwynedd's Welsh to plan for the future without fear that home and harvest would "go to the flames" from invaders.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Settlements became more permanent, with buildings of stone replacing timber structures. Stone churches in particular were built across Gwynedd, with so many limewashed that "Gwynedd was bespangled with them as is the firmament with stars". Gruffudd had built stone churches at his royal manors, and Lloyd suggests Gruffudd's example led to the rebuilding of churches with stone in Penmon, Aberdaron, and Towyn in the Norman fashion.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Gruffudd promoted the primacy of the Episcopal See of Bangor in Gwynedd, and funded the building of Bangor Cathedral during the episcopate of David the Scot, Bishop of Bangor, between 1120 and 1139. Gruffudd's remains were interred in a tomb in the presbytery of Bangor Cathedral.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Owain ap Gruffudd (Owain Gwynedd   23 or 28 November 1170) succeeded his father to the greater portion of Gwynedd in accordance with Welsh law, the "Cyfraith Hywel", the Laws of Hywel; and became known as "Owain Gwynedd" to differentiate him from another Owain ap Gruffudd, the Mathrafal ruler of Powys, known as "Owain Cyfeiliog". Cadwaladr, Gruffudd's youngest son, inherited the commote of Aberffraw on Ynys Môn, and the recently conquered Meirionydd and northern Ceredigion--"i.e.", Ceredigion between the rivers Aeron and the Dyfi.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: By 1141 Cadwaladr and Madog ap Maredudd of Powys led a Welsh vanguard as an ally of the Earl of Chester in the Battle of Lincoln, and joined in the rout which made Stephen of England prisoner of Empress Matilda for a year Owain, however, did not participate in the battle, keeping the majority of Gwynedd's army at home.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Owain and Cadwaladr came to blows in 1143 when Cadwaladr was implicated in the murder of King Anarawd ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth, Owain's ally and future son-in-law, on the eve of Anarawd's wedding to Owain's daughter. Owain followed a diplomatic policy of binding other Welsh rulers to Gwynedd through dynastic marriages, and Cadwaladr's border dispute and murder of Anarawd threatened Owain's efforts and credibility. As ruler of Gwynedd, Owain stripped Cadwaladr of his lands, with Owain's son Hywel dispatched to Ceredigion, where he burned Cadwaladr's castle at Aberystwyth. Cadwaladr fled to Ireland and hired a Norse fleet from Dublin, bringing the fleet to Abermenai to compel Owain to reinstate him. This same fleet of ships would be considered a sizeable one to be able to face the fleet of Stephen, King of England, as well as The Irish and Scottish at Abermenai Point prior in 1142. Taking advantage of the brotherly strife, and perhaps with the tacit understanding of Cadwaladr, the marcher lords mounted incursions into Wales. Realizing the wider ramifications of the war before him, Owain and Cadwaladr came to terms and reconciled, with Cadwaladr restored to his lands. Peace between the brothers held until 1147, when an unrecorded event occurred which led Owain's sons Hywel and Cynan to drive Cadwaladr out of Meirionydd and Ceredigon, with Cadwaladr retreating to Môn. Again an accord was reached, with Cadwaladr retaining Aberffraw until a more serious breach occurred in 1153, when he was forced into exile in England, where his wife was the sister of Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Hertford and the niece of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In 1146 news reached Owain that his favoured eldest son and heir, Rhun ab Owain Gwynedd, died. Owain was overcome with grief, falling into a deep depression from which none could console him, until news reached him that Mold Castle in Tegeingl had fallen to Gwynedd, "[reminding Owain] that he had still a country for which to live," wrote historian Sir John Edward Lloyd.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Between 1148 and 1151, Owain I of Gwynedd fought against Madog ap Maredudd of Powys, Owain's son-in-law, and against the Earl of Chester for control of Iâl, with Owain having secured Rhuddlan Castle and all of Tegeingl from Chester. "By 1154 Owain had brought his men within sight of the red towers of the great city on the Dee", wrote Lloyd."


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Having spent three years consolidating his authority in the vast Angevin Empire, Henry II of England resolved on a strategy against Owain I of Gwynedd by 1157. By now, Owain's enemies had joined Henry II's camp, enemies such as his wayward brother Cadwaladr and in particular the support of Madog of Powys. Henry II raised his feudal host and marched into Wales from Chester. Owain positioned himself and his army at Dinas Basing (Basingwerk), barring the road to Rhuddlan, setting up a trap in which Henry II would send his army along the direct road on the coast, while he crossed through the woods to out-flank Owain. The King of Gwynedd anticipated this, and dispatched his sons Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd and Cynan into the woods with an army, catching Henry II unaware.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In the melee which followed Henry II might have been slain had not Roger de Clare, 2nd Earl of Hertford, rescued the king. Henry II retreated and made his way back to his main army, by now slowly advancing towards Rhuddlan. Not wishing to engage the Norman army directly, Owain repositioned himself first at St. Asaph, then further west, clearing the road for Henry II to enter into Rhuddlan "ingloriously". Once in Rhuddlan Henry II received word that his naval expedition had failed, as instead of meeting Henry II at Degannwy or Rhuddlan, it had gone to plunder Anglesey, this resulted in the Battle of Ewloe, and has since been commemorated with a plaque 850 years after the battle of 1157, during 2007.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In a later letter to the Byzantine emperor, Henry probably recalled these experiences when he wrote, "A people called Welsh, so bold and ferocious that, when unarmed, they do not fear to encounter an armed force, being ready to shed their blood in defence of their country, and to sacrifice their lives for renown."


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The naval expedition was led by Henry II's maternal uncle (Empress Matilda's half-brother), Henry FitzRoy; and when they landed on Môn, Henry FitzRoy had the churches of Llanbedr Goch and Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf torched. During the night the men of Môn gathered together, and the next morning fought and defeated the Norman army, with Henry FitzRoy falling under a shower of lances. The defeat of his navy and his own military difficulties had convinced Henry II that he had "gone as far as was practical that year" in his effort to subject Owain, and the King offered terms.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Owain I of Gwynedd, "ever prudent and sagacious", recognised that he needed time to further consolidate power, and agreed to the terms. Owain was to render homage and fealty to the King, and resign Tegeingl and Rhuddlan to Chester, and restore Cadwaladr to his possessions in Gwynedd.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The death of Madog ap Meredudd of Powys in 1160 opened an opportunity for Owain I of Gwynedd to further press Gwynedd's influence at the expense of Powys. However, Owain continued to further Gwynedd's expansion without rousing the English crown, maintaining his 'prudent policy' of "Quieta non-movere" (translated from Latin - "do not move settled things"). It was a policy of outward conciliation, while masking his own consolidation of authority. To further demonstrate his good-will, in 1160 Owain handed over to the English crown the fugitive Einion Clud. By 1162 Owain was in possession of the Powys cantref of Cyfeiliog, and its castle, Tafolwern; and ravaged another Powys cantref, Arwystli, slaying its lord, Hywel ab Ieuaf. Owain's strategy was in sharp contrast to Rhys ap Gruffudd, King of Deheubarth, who in 1162 rose in open revolt against the Normans in south Wales, drawing Henry II back to England from the continent.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In 1163 Henry II quarrelled with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, causing growing divisions between the king's supporters and the archbishop's supporters. With discontent mounting in England, Owain of Gwynedd joined with Rhys ap Gruffudd of Deheubarth in a second grand Welsh revolt against Henry II. England's king, who only the prior year had pardoned Rhys ap Gruffudd for his 1162 revolt, assembled a vast host against the allied Welsh, with troops drawn from all over the Angevin empire assembling in Shrewsbury, and with the Norse of Dublin paid to harass the Welsh coast. While his army gathered on the Welsh frontier, Henry II left for the continent to negotiate a truce with France and Flanders to not disturb his peace while campaigning in Wales.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: However, when Henry II returned to England he found that the war had already begun, with Owain's son Dafydd raiding Angevin positions in Tegeingl, exposing the castles of Rhuddlan and Basingwerk to "serious dangers", wrote Lloyd. Henry II rushed to north Wales for a few days to shore up defences there, before returning to his main army now gathering in Oswestery.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The vast host gathered before the allied Welsh principalities represented the largest army yet assembled for their conquest, a circumstance which further drew the Welsh allies into a closer confederacy, wrote Lloyd. With Owain I of Gwynedd the overall battle commander, and with his brother Cadwaladr as his second, Owain assembled the Welsh host at Corwen in the vale of Edeyrion where he could best resist Henry II's advance.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The Angevin army advanced from Oswestry into Wales crossing the mountains towards Mur Castell, and found itself in the thick forest of the Ceiriog Valley where they were forced into a narrow thin line. Owain I had positioned a band of skirmishers in the thick woods overlooking the pass, which harassed the exposed army from a secured position. Henry II ordered the clearing of the woods on either side to widen the passage through the valley, and to lessen the exposure of his army. The road his army travelled later became known as the "Ffordd y Saeson", the "English Road", and leads through heath and bog towards the Dee. In a dry summer the moors may have been passable, but "on this occasion the skies put on their most wintry aspect; and the rain fell in torrents [...] flooding the mountain meadows" until the great Angevin encampment became a "morass," wrote Lloyd. In the face of "hurricane" force wind and rain, diminishing provisions and an exposed supply line stretching through hostile country subject to enemy raids, and with a demoralised army, Henry II was forced into a complete retreat without even a semblance of a victory.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In frustration, Henry II had twenty-two Welsh hostages mutilated; the sons of Owain's supporters and allies, including two of Owain's own sons. In addition to his failed campaign in Wales, Henry's mercenary Norse navy, which he had hired to harass the Welsh coast, turned out to be too few for use, and were disbanded without engagement.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Henry II's Welsh campaign was a complete failure, with the king abandoning all plans for the conquest of Wales, returning to his court in Anjou and not returning to England for another four years. Lloyd wrote:


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: It is true that [Henry II] did not cross swords with [Owain I], but the elements had done their work for [the Welsh]; the stars in their courses had fought against the pride of England and humbled it to the very dust. To conquer a land which was defended, not merely by the arms of its valiant and audacious sons, but also by tangled woods and impassable bogs, by piercing winds and pitiless storms of rain, seemed a hopeless task, and Henry resolved to no longer attempt it.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Owain expanded his international diplomatic offensive against Henry II by sending an embassy to Louis VII of France in 1168, led by Arthur of Bardsey, Bishop of Bangor (1166–1177), who was charged with negotiating a joint alliance against Henry II. With Henry II distracted by his widening quarrel with Thomas Becket, Owain's army recovered Tegeingl for Gwynedd by 1169.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Lloyd quotes: "The praises so repeatedly accorded to his many personal qualities by contemporary poets, and indeed by several public figures who could not have been predisposed in his favour, have so genuine a tone about them that the progressive trends in all the arts of peace and war discerned in 12th century Wales, it must be concluded, were in large measure due to the fostering genius of ' Owain the Great.'"


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: In his later reign Owain I was the styled "princeps Wallensium", Latin for the "Prince of the Welsh", a title of substance given his leadership of the Welsh and victory against the English king, wrote historian Dr. John Davies. Additionally, Owain commissioned the "Life of Gruffudd ap Cynan", the biography of his father in which Owain firmly asserted his primacy over other Welsh rulers by "absolute right through descent" from Rhodri the Great, according to Davies. Owain I was the eldest male descendant of Rhodri the Great through paternal descent.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The adoption of the title "prince" (Latin "princeps", Welsh "tywysog"), rather than king (Latin "rex", Welsh "brenin"), did not mean a diminution in status, according to Davies. The use of the title "prince" was a recognition of the ruler of Gwynedd in relation to the wider international feudal world. The princes of Gwynedd exercised greater status and prestige than the earls, counts, and dukes of the Angevin empire, suggesting a similar status as that of the King of Scots, himself nominally a vassal of the King of England, argued Davies. As Welsh society became further influenced by feudal Europe, the princes of Gwynedd would in turn use feudalism to strengthen their own authority over lesser Welsh lords, a "two-edged sword" for the King of England, wrote Davies. Though Gwynedd's princes recognised the "de jure" suzerainty of the King of England, there remained well-established Welsh law separate from English law, and were independent "de facto", wrote Davies.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Welsh manuscripts and Annals state the events which unfolded during the end of the 12th century. This story of the Royal court of Gwynedd suffering an uprising, stems from the Norman invasion of Wales a century prior to the civil strife of Owain Gwynedd and his immediate family. The internal wranglings for the crown of Gwynedd begun with two sons, Rhun ab Owain Gwynedd and Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd, who were illegitimate, by Owain's Irish wife Pyfog. Owain and his father, Gruffudd ap Cynan, both had a Norse-Irish connection in their immediate family, and would have used this allegiance to their advantage, especially Gruffudd who hired and army fleets of ships to invade North Wales himself. In 1146, Hywel and Cadell ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth had combined their forces to battle against invading Normans who had built castles in west Wales, they took Carmarthen, Llanstephan, and Wiston castles.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd duly succeeded his father for a short lived term during 1170. Due to the Norman invasion of Wales, the realm was in civil war, Princess-Dowager (wife of Owain Gwynedd) Cristin verch Goronwy who promoted her own son Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd (Dafydd I/ David I) as Prince of Gwynedd ahead of Hywel and any other senior son of Owain Gwynedd. Dafydd I made his move, and within a few months of his succession Hywel was overthrown and killed at the Battle of Pentraeth in 1171.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Due to splinter factions, the Kingdom's royal family begun to move away from Gwynedd, it is Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd (died after 1174 strife) who appeared to have gained Anglesey, whilst the sons of Cynan held the cantrefs of Meirionnydd, Eifionydd and Ardudwy between them . Dayfdd I was of Welsh royal stock, although his parents' union wasn't recognised by the church, and he was deemed illegitimate (his parents Owain and Cristin were first cousins), he would still marry royalty, his wife being the half sister of Henry II. As a Prince he made the most of his position as a son of Owain Gwynedd, and it was Dafydd I who waged a war on his brothers when he won the Crown at the battle of Pentraeth. Dafydd I, King of Gwynedd was his title, and his merciless rule continued when he used his powers to harass his brothers into leaving Gwyendd, at one stage in 1173 Dafydd I imprisoned all of his siblings except for Madoc and Maelgwn. It was Madoc (also known as Madog ab Owain Gwynedd) who after his father's death is claimed to have set sail across the Atlantic Ocean and discovered America. After 3 years of Maelgwn possessing Anglesey he jailed him too. Eventually Dafydd I was himself imprisoned by the future Prince of Wales Llywelyn the Great, that was after losing the Battle of Aberconwy against an alliance of Rhodri ab Owain, and the sons of Cynan ab Owain Gwynedd.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The following year he expelled all his remaining family rivals and made himself master of all Gwynedd and in 1175, Dafydd I imprisoned his brother Rhodri. During a revolt in 1173, Dafydd I adhered to Henry II as an ally, and it was agreed that Dafydd I would marry Emma of Anjou, who was Henry's half sister, and would receive the manor of Ellesmere as dowry.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: All this was done, as the Brut y Tywysogion explained, "because [Dafydd] thought he could hold his territory in peace thereby", but it proved insufficient. Before the end of 1175 Rhodri had escaped from captivity and gathered sufficient support to drive Dafydd I from the Royal household of Aberffraw, there appears to be no activity from Dafydd I for almost 20 years after 1175, until then the final battle at Aberconwy in 1197. Dafydd I may not have inherited the leadership abilities of his father but he had sufficient diplomatic qualities remaining to ensure he could live at peace with his neighbours. This appears to be the one quality recognised by his contemporaries as he was described by Giraldus Cambrensis as a man who showed "good faith and credit by observing a strict neutrality between the Welsh and English".


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: His brother Rhodri had a more eventful time and fell out with the descendants of Cynan. They acted against Rhodri in 1190 and drove him out of Gwynedd altogether. Rhodri fled to the safety of the Isle of Man only to be briefly reinstated in 1193 with the assistance of Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles, and then driven out once more at the beginning of 1194, sharing the humiliation of his brother Dafydd ab Owain.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Dafydd Ist had a nemesis in his nephew Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, who was born most likely in the year 1173 and therefore only a child when all these events played out. Llywelyn's father Iorwerth Drwyndwn had been involved in the early stages of the dynastic struggles and most likely died sometime around 1174, during the same time as the usurpation of Dafydd I. As the century drew to a close Llywelyn became a young man and decided to stake his claim to power in Gwynedd. He conspired with his cousins Gruffudd and Maredudd and his uncle Rhodri and in the year 1194 they all united against Dafydd I. Iorwerth fought battles throughout Wales, giving him the moniker 'The great' like his ancestor Owain Gwynedd had attained. Having made alliances in his birth county of Powys and the county of the origins of his family Gwynedd, in north Wales, the stage was set for Llywelyn to dominate in battle and make alliances with the Crown of England, similar to his predecessor Dafydd I. Llywelyn married Joan, Lady of Wales, the daughter of John, King of England.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (117311 April 1240), later known as Llywelyn the Great (Llywelyn I), was sole ruler of Gwynedd by 1200, and made a treaty with King John of England the same year. Llywelyn's relations with John remained good for the next ten years. He married John's illegitimate daughter Joan, also known as Joanna, in 1205, and when John arrested Gwenwynwyn ab Owain of Powys in 1208 Llywelyn took the opportunity to annex southern Powys, Ceredigion and also he built Aberystwyth Castle. In 1210 relations deteriorated and John invaded Gwynedd in 1211. Llywelyn was forced to seek terms and to give up all his lands east of the River Conwy, but was able to recover these lands the following year in alliance with the other Welsh princes. He later allied himself with the barons who forced John to sign Magna Carta in 1215. By 1216 he was the dominant power in Wales, holding a council at Aberdyfi that year to apportion lands to the other princes. Llywelyn concluded the Treaty of Worcester with the next King of England, Henry III in 1218. The treaty formally recognised Llywelyn I as Prince of Wales.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: During 12201230, Llywelyn bolstered his claim to the Kingship of Gwynedd by reinforcing his borders with castles being built around the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Criccieth, Deganwy, Dolbadarn, Dolwyddelan and Castell y Bere are among the best examples. The Peace of Middle treaty in 1234 marked the beginning of the end for his military exploits and virtually established peace for the rest of Llywelyn's life. Having been on terms with his neighbouring compatriots, Llywelyn had taken to his wife's style of fashioning a court similar to that of the English Crown and also the same rules of court devised in 914 at Aberffraw. The Prince convened a court with household members, and 12 Royal mounted guards. The Royal palace consisted of 35 positions similar to Royal Households of the United Kingdom used today in England.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Llywelyn followed the laws of Hywel Dda, and attempted a succession process using the Welsh gavelkind custom of choosing an heir. Llywelyn promoted his younger son Dafydd II, and he customised the process of designating an heir to his own fruition by giving his eldest son Gruffudd lands to rule. Dafydd II was named heir with the support of King Henry III of England, during 1238 a Welsh Royal council of Princes was held at Strata Florida Abbey in honour of the heir of Gwynedd. Llywelyn in 1239 suffered a stroke and retired from the active work in the Welsh government, he died only a year later in 1240.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Prince Dafydd II (Dafydd ap Llywelyn / David II, March 121225 February 1246), the son of Llywelyn the Great was installed as heir of Gwynedd by the Prince of Wales. While King Henry III of England had accepted Dafydd II and his Royal claims to Gwynedd and Wales, Henry invaded Gwynedd, and Dafydd II was forced to negotiate peace near St. Asaph, on 29 August 1241, under the terms of the Treaty of Gwerneigron, Dafydd II gave up all his lands outside Gwynedd. Dafydd II was ruthless with his power, like his predecessors he'd imprisoned his own brother, once for 6 years, and again in Criccieth and then in the Tower of London. It was the Bishop of Bangor who negotiated letting Prince Gruffudd move to a better location in London. Gruffudd fell to his death in March 1244 while trying to escape from the Tower of London by climbing down a knotted sheet.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: With his main rival dead, Dafydd formed an alliance with other Welsh rulers and began a campaign against the English occupation of parts of Wales, all the while communicating with Pope Innocent IV in the Vatican City, Rome, talking about the powers bestowed on him by his predecessors as the ruler of Gwynedd. After savage fighting, the campaign was successful, however Llywelyn's former seneshal Sir Tudur ap Ednyfed Fychan was captured by Henry III forces in September 1245 in battle against Dafydd II, yet Tudur was released in 1247 after swearing fealty to the King of England. Dafydd II died a sudden and natural death on 25 February 1246, this brought a halt to the succession crisis which was fuelling the wars, his widow Isabella de Braose returned to England, living in Haverford, she died 2 years later.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Prince Llywelyn II (, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, 122311 December 1282) was living in Gwynedd at the time of his succession to the throne and had fought alongside his uncle Dafydd II during the last campaign of his reign. This gave him an advantage over his elder brother Owain who had been imprisoned in England with his father since 1242. Owain returned to Gwynedd from England, immediately after the news of the death of Prince Dafydd the IInd. Llywelyn and Owain were able to come to agreement during an arranged peace accord by King Henry III of England, the Treaty of Woodstock, they were to share a realm west of Conwy, the treaty only lasted 8 years.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: The younger brother of Llywelyn II was Dafydd III, who had come of age by 14 and was invited by Henry III to pay homage in 1253. But in the spirit of his ancestors he went to battle with his brother by forming an alliance with their other brother Owain, and fought at the Battle of Bryn Derwin where they met with respective armies. Llywelyn II in victory imprisoned his brothers Owain (until 1277), and Dafydd III for around a years time, Dafydd III eventually gained favour by 1277 working in conjunction with the Crown of England by gaining land on the northern border of England and Wales, Dafydd III married Elizabeth Ferrers and had offspring, while Owain was given the title Lord of Llŷn. Llywelyn was seen as a figurehead for the new state of Wales, but had to coordinate with the newly formed Norman dynasty neighbouring to the east of Gwynedd, this was formalised with the Treaty of Montgomery later in 1267.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: With his brothers out of contention, Llyewlyn II was sole ruler and this allowed for over a decade of unbroken military success, aided by the weakness of the Crown of England and the support of his seneshal Goronwy ab Ednyfed, he triumphed in battle by reuniting north Wales. Llywelyn II made an alliance with the Montfort family, marrying Eleanor de Montfort in 1275. Eleanor was the daughter of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, who had been integral in the English civil war by rebelling during the Second Barons' War. This time it was another Pope, Clement IV who negocitated peace with the Welsh Prince, insisting to disassociate from the Monfort's after the Battle of Evesham. Llywelyn II and Montfort married twice, once in secret in 1275, and once again after the marriage was given consent by the new brother in law of Llywelyn II, Edward I, only after Eleanor herself was placed under house arrest for 3 years for passing through Bristol with her father's banner on board a ship, their daughter Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn was orphaned before her first birthday, she was the last of her line.


title: Kingdom of Gwynedd

text: Succession would continue with a new King of England, Edward I would later acquire the title of the Prince of Wales. The Treaty of Aberconwy was signed in 1277 by Llywelyn II, it was a formal agreement to hand over the power Gwynedd he had accumulated throughout Wales, the new House of Plantagenet was of French, Norman origins. However Llywelyn's brother Dafydd III still had different ideas, it was he who provoked incident by attacking Hawarden castle on Palm Sunday in 1282. Later on during November 1282 the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Peckham, had visited North Wales to mediate any potential conflict between sovereigns. Prince Llywelyn II was offered a financial incentive, and an English estate for his family, only if he were to surrender Gwynedd's territory to Edward. Llywelyn II rejected the offer. The next month, on 11 December 1282, after not being recognised Llywelyn was killed at in an ambush. His head sent to London, his body interred to Abbeycwmhir.