The Principality was formally founded in 1216 by native Welshman and King of Gwynedd, Llywelyn the Great who gathered other leaders of pura Wallia at the Council of Aberdyfi.

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.

The Principality of Wales was created in 1216 at the Council of Aberdyfi when it was agreed between Llywelyn the Great and the other sovereign princes among the Welsh that he was the paramount ruler amongst them, and they would pay homage to him.

Llywelyn had been at pains to ensure that his heirs and successors would follow the "approved" (by the Pope at least) system of inheritance which excluded illegitimate sons.

In 1240 Llywelyn died and Henry III of England (who succeeded John) promptly invaded large areas of his former realm, usurping them from him.

However, the two sides came to peace and Henry honoured at least part of the agreement and bestowed upon Dafydd ap Llywelyn the title 'Prince of Wales'.

This title would be granted to his successor Llywelyn in 1267 (after a campaign by him to achieve it) and was later claimed by his brother Dafydd and other members of the princely House of Aberffraw.

[6] England's endorsement was part of a larger strategy of reducing the influence of Powys Wenwynwyn, as King John had given William de Breos licence in 1200 to "seize as much as he could" from the native Welsh.

His alliance with Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, in 1265 against King Henry III of England allowed him to reconquer large areas of mid-Wales from the English Marcher Lords.

Disputes between him, his brother Dafydd, and English lords bordering his own led to renewed conflict with England (now ruled by Edward I) in 1277.

[citation needed] Dafydd assumed his elder brother's title in 1282 and led a brief period of continued resistance against England.

Between 1267 and 1272 Wales made a total payment of £11,500, "proof of a growing money economy... and testimony of the effectiveness of the principality's financial administration," wrote historian Dr. John Davies.

[12] Additionally, modifications and amendments to the Law Codes of Hywel Dda encouraged the decline of the galanas (blood-fine) and the use of the jury system.

In 1211, King John of England brought an army across the river Conwy, and occupied the royal home for a brief period; his troops went on to burn Bangor.

[16] A more stable social and political environment provided by the Aberffraw administration allowed for the natural development of Welsh culture, particularly in literature, law, and religion.

Of these professions, there were eight goldsmiths, four bards (poets) by trade, 26 shoemakers, a doctor in Cynwyd, and a hotel keeper in Maentwrog, and 28 priests; two of whom were university graduates.

[19] Of significant importance for the principality included more developed trade routes, which allowed for the introduction of new energy sources such as the windmill, the fulling mill and the horse collar (which doubled the efficiency of horse-power).

[citation needed] The principality traded cattle, skins, cheese, timber, horses, wax, dogs, hawks, and fleeces, but also flannel (with the growth of fulling mills).

[citation needed] Between 1277 and 1283, Edward I of England conquered the territories of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and the other last remaining native Welsh princes.

[21][22][23] 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.

[28][29] Another county, Flintshire, was created out of the lordships of Tegeingl, Hopedale and Maelor Saesneg,[27] and was administered with the Palatinate of Cheshire by the Justiciar of Chester.

[25] There were few attempts by the English parliament to legislate in Wales and the lands of the principality remained subject to laws enacted by the king and his council.

[37] Edward's main concern following the conquest was to ensure the military security of his new territories and the stone castle was to be the primary means for achieving this.

[38] Under the supervision of James of Saint George, Edward's master-builder, a series of imposing castles was built, using a distinctive design and the most advanced defensive features of the day, to form a "ring of stone" around the northern part of the principality.

[40] Aside from their practical military role, the castles made a clear symbolic statement to the Welsh that the principality was subject to English rule on a permanent basis.

Unlike in some of the newly created Marcher lordships, such as Denbigh, there was little evidence of the successful colonisation of rural areas by English settlers.

These "plantation boroughs", often with the castle constable as town mayor, were populated by English burgesses and acted as a support for the royal military establishment as well as being an anglicizing influence.

[51] Nevertheless, as late as 1532, a group of burgesses from Caernarfon bitterly complained that some of their number had let properties in the town to "foreigners", all of whom had Welsh names.

[71][page needed] Publications such as Lewis's A Topographical Dictionary of Wales,[72] and Welsh newspapers in the 19th century commonly used the term.