High Middle Ages · Europe · War

1277

Edward I's first Welsh war

1277

Launching from Chester, the English king led a massive summer campaign against Llywelyn ap Gruffudd of Wales. Overwhelmed by numbers, Llywelyn submitted at Aberconwy and was reduced to a rump of Gwynedd. The conquest of Wales had begun. Edward deployed a strategy of road-building and castle construction that would become his signature method of subjugating conquered territories throughout the British Isles.