page_title: Principality of Wales
section_title: Governance
hierarchical_section_title: Principality of Wales / 1284 to 1542: annexed to the English crown / Governance
caption_attribution_description: English: Edward I creating his son, Edward of Caernarvon (the later King Edward II), prince of Wales, 1301. Text reads "Eduuardus factus est princeps Wallie" (Edward is made prince of Wales). (British Library, MS Cotton Nero.D.II. fol. 191v)
context_page_description: The Principality of Wales existed between 1216 and 1536, encompassing two-thirds of modern Wales during its height between 1267 and 1277. For most of its history it was ’annexed and united’ to the English Crown except for its earliest few decades. However, for a few generations, specifically the period from its foundation in 1216 to the completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284, it was de facto independent under a Welsh prince of Wales, albeit one who swore fealty to the king of England.
  The Principality was formally founded in 1216 at the Council of Aberdyfi and later recognised by the 1218 Treaty of Worcester between Llywelyn the Great of Wales and Henry III of England. The treaty gave substance to the political reality of 13th-century Wales and England, and the relationship of the former with the Angevin Empire. The principality retained a great degree of autonomy, characterized by a separate legal jurisprudence based on the well established laws of Cyfraith Hywel, and by the increasingly sophisticated court of the House of Aberffraw.
context_section_description: The Principality's administration was overseen by the Prince of Wales's Council comprising between 8 and 15 councillors sitting in London or, later, Ludlow in Shropshire. The Council acted as the Principality's final Court of Appeal. By 1476, the Council, which became known as the Council of Wales and the Marches, began taking responsibility not only for the Principality itself but its authority was extended over the whole of Wales.
  The territory of the principality fell into two distinct areas: the lands under direct royal control and lands which Edward I had distributed by feudal grants.
  For lands under royal control, the administration, under the Statute of Rhuddlan, was divided into the two territories: North Wales based at Caernarfon and West Wales based at Camarthen. The Statute organized the Principality into shire counties. Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire were administered by the Justiciar of South Wales (or "of West Wales") at Carmarthen. In the North, the counties of Anglesey, Merionethshire, and Caernarfonshire were created under the control of Justiciar of North Wales and a provincial exchequer at Caernarfon, run by the Chamberlain of North Wales, who accounted for the revenues he collected to the Exchequer at Westminster. Under them were royal officials such as sheriffs, coroners, and bailiffs to collect taxes and administer justice. Another county, Flintshire, was created out of the lordships of Tegeingl, Hopedale and Maelor Saesneg, and was administered with the Palatinate of Cheshire by the Justiciar of Chester.
  The remainder of the principality comprised lands which Edward I had granted to supporters shortly after the completion of the conquest in 1284, and which, in practice, became Marcher lordships: for example, the lordship of Denbigh granted to the Earl of Lincoln and the lordship of Powys granted to Owain ap Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, who became Owen de la Pole. These lands after 1301 were held as tenants-in-chief of the Principality of Wales, rather than from the Crown directly, but were, for all practical purposes, not part of the principality.
caption: Edward I creating his son Edward of Caernarfon Prince of Wales in 1301 (early 14th-century manuscript)
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