Principality of Wales

The Principality of Wales (Welsh: Tywysogaeth Cymru) 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. Although it owed fealty to the Angevin king of England, the principality was de facto independent, with a similar status in the empire to the Kingdom of Scotland. Its existence has been seen as proof that all the elements necessary for the growth of Welsh statehood were in place.
The period of de facto independence ended with Edward I's conquest of the principality between 1277 and 1283. Under the Statute of Rhuddlan the principality lost its independence and became effectively an annexed territory of the English crown. From 1301, the crown's lands in north and west Wales formed part of the appanage of England's heir apparent, with the title "Prince of Wales". On accession of the prince to the English throne, the lands and title became merged with the Crown again. On two occasions Welsh claimants to the title rose up in rebellion during this period, although neither ultimately succeeded.
Since the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, which formally incorporated Wales into the Kingdom of England and rapid outward recognition of such in the form of the common law and higher including appellate courts of England and Wales, which remains, there has been no geographical or constitutional basis for describing any of Wales as a principality, although the term has occasionally been used in an informal sense to describe the country, and in relation to the honorary title of Prince of Wales.
==References==
Category:Wales