page_title: Culture of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages
section_title: Settlements, architecture, and economy
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages / Settlements, architecture, and economy
caption_attribution_description: English: Hawker. From a Latin copy of the Laws of Hywel Dda, which belongs to one of the National Library of Wales's foundation collections of manuscripts, the Peniarth Manuscripts.
context_page_description: Culture and Society in Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages refers to a period in the History of Wales spanning the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages. Gwynedd is located in the north of Wales.
  Distinctive achievements in Gwynedd during this period include further development of Medieval Welsh literature, for instance in the poetry of those of the Beirdd y Tywysogion associated with the court of Gwynedd, the reformation of bardic schools, and the continued development of Cyfraith Hywel; all three of which further contributed to the development of a Welsh national identity in the face of Anglo-Norman encroachment of Wales and the threat of conquest by the Crown of England.
  Gwynedd's traditional territory included Anglesey and all of north Wales between the River Dyfi in the south and River Dee in the northeast. The Irish Sea lies to the north and west, and lands formerly part of the Powys border the south-east. Gwynedd's strength was due in part to the region's mountainous geography which made it difficult for foreign invaders to campaign in the country and impose their will effectively.
context_section_description: When Gruffudd ap Cynan died in 1137 he left a more stable realm than had existed in Gwynedd for more than 100 years. No foreign army was able to cross the Conwy into upper Gwynedd. The stability in upper Gwynedd provided by Gruffudd and his son Owain Gwynedd, between 1101 and 1170, allowed Gwynedd's inhabitants to plan for the future without fear that home and harvest would "go to the flames" from invaders.
  Settlements in Gwynedd 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 princely manors, and Lloyd suggests that his example led to the rebuilding of churches in stone in Penmon, Aberdaron, and Towyn in the Norman fashion.
  By the 13th century, Gwynedd was the cornerstone of the Principality of Wales (that is Pura Wallia), which came to encompass three-quarters of the area of modern Wales: "from Anglesey to Machen, from the outskirts of Chester to the outskirts of Cydweli". By 1271, Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd could claim a growing population of about 200,000: a little less than three-quarters of the total Welsh population.
  Population increase was common throughout Europe in the 13th century, but in Wales it was more pronounced. By Llywelyn II's reign as much as 10 per cent of the population were town-dwellers. Additionally, "unfree slaves... had long disappeared" from within Pura Wallia due in large part form the social upheavals of the 11th century," argued Davies. The increase in free men allowed the prince to call on and field a far more substantial and professional army.
  The increase in population in Gwynedd, and in the Principality of Wales as a whole, allowed a greater diversification of the economy. The Meirionnydd tax rolls evidence the thirty-seven various professions present in Meirionnydd immediately before the Edwardian Conquest of 1282.
  Of these professions, there were eight goldsmiths, four professional bards (poets), 26 shoemakers, a doctor in Cynwyd and an hotel keeper in Maentwrog, and 28 priests, two of whom were university graduates. Also present were a significant number of fishermen, administrators and clerics, professional men and craftsmen.
  With the average temperature of Wales a degree or two higher than it is today, more Welsh lands were arable: "a crucial bonus for a country like Wales", wrote historian Dr John Davies.
  Important for Gwynedd and Pura Wallia were more developed trade routes, which allowed the introduction of the windmill, the fulling-mill, and the horse collar (which doubled the useful power of the horse).
  Gwynedd exported cattle, skins, cheese, timber, horses, wax, dogs, hawks, and fleeces, and also flannel (with the growth of fulling mills). Flannel was second only to cattle among the principality's exports. In exchange, the principality imported salt, wine, wheat, and other luxuries from London and Paris. But most importantly for its defence, Gwynedd also imported iron and specialised weaponry.
  England exploited Welsh dependence on foreign imports to wear down Gwynedd and the Principality of Wales in times of conflict between the two countries.
caption: Drawing of a falconer from Peniarth 28 manuscript. Wales exported hawks.
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