Everything about Perfeddwlad totally explained
Perfeddwlad, meaning
middle country in
Welsh (
Y Berfeddwlad being the usual form), was a name adopted during the twelfth century for the territories in north-east Wales lying between the rivers
Conwy and
Dee, and comprised the
cantrefi of
Rhos,
Rhufoniog,
Dyffryn Clwyd and
Tegeingl.
It was known as the 'middle country' because it was situated between the two kingdoms of
Gwynedd and
Powys and was therefore the subject of dispute between those two kingdoms. It was also situated between Gwynedd and the English to the east, and therefore contested by those two realms, particularly as the
Norman kings of
England and their
English succesors sought to expand their control over Wales.
Despite the fact that the eastern half of the Perfeddwlad, to the east of the river Clwyd came under the influence of the Norman
earls of Chester in the late eleventh century, (many settlements were listed in the
Domesday Book of
1086), it was also known as
Gwynedd Is Conwy, that's 'Gwynedd below the river Conway' when under the sway of Gwynedd, as during the reign of
Llywelyn Fawr, for instance.
Following the death of Llywelyn Fawr the Perfeddwlad was conquered by
Henry III of England in the 1240s but retaken for Gwynedd by
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in the 1250s. It was retaken once more by
Edward I in
1277 who kept the two northern cantrefs of Rhôs and Tegeingl for the crown but ceded Rhufoniog and Dyffryn Clwyd to
Dafydd, Llywelyn's brother who sided with Edward.
Following Edward's final victory in the years
1282-
1283 and the consequent
Statute of Rhuddlan in
1284, Rhôs and Rhufoniog were combined to form the new lordship of
Denbigh and conferred upon
Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln; Dyffryn Clwyd beame the lordship of
Ruthin and was granted to
Reginald de Grey; and Tegeingl became the lordship of
Englefield and the main body of the proto-county of
Flint under the aegis of the
palatinate of Chester.
Further Information
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