Editing Prince of Wales (section)

== Welsh princes of Wales ==

=== Origins to 1283 ===
The first known use of the title "Prince of Wales"{{#tag:ref|The term used was ''Princeps Walliarum'' ("Prince of the Waleses") as the document was in [[Latin]]. However, the form of address in letters Owain received from [[Thomas Becket]] and [[Pope Alexander III]] suggests that by 1169 he was also using the titles ''Princeps Wallie'' ("Prince of Wales") and ''Wallensium Princeps'' ("Prince of the Welsh").<ref>{{cite book |last=Price |first=Huw |title=The Acts of Welsh Rulers, 1120–1283 |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7083-2387-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4E2uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref>|group="note"}} was in the 1160s by [[Owain Gwynedd]], ruler of [[List of rulers of Gwynedd|Kingdom of Gwynedd]], in a letter to [[Louis VII of France]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Huw |first=Pryce |date=1998 |title=Owain Gwynedd And Louis VII: The Franco-Welsh Diplomacy of the First Prince of Wales |url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1073091/1083764/5#?xywh=-1817%2C-487%2C5980%2C3819 |journal=Welsh History Review |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=2}}</ref> In the 12th century, Wales was a patchwork of [[Marcher lord|Anglo-Norman Lordships]] and native Welsh kingdoms – notably [[Deheubarth]], [[Kingdom of Powys|Powys]] and Gwynedd – competing among themselves for hegemony.<ref>{{cite book |last=Insley |first=Charles |editor-last1=Crook |editor-first1=David |editor-last2=Wilkinson |editor-first2=Louise J. |chapter=Imitation and Independence in Native Welsh Administrative Culture, c. 1180–1280 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EOTwCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Welsh+history+of+the%C2%A0thirteenth+century+tends%22&pg=PA104 |title=The Growth of Royal Government Under Henry III |year=2015 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=978-1-78327-067-5 |page=108}}</ref> As he was already the King of Gwynedd, Owain's aim in using the title in his letter to Louis was probably to claim pre-eminence over the other native Welsh rulers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Huw |first=Pryce |date=1998 |title=Owain Gwynedd And Louis VII: The Franco-Welsh Diplomacy of the First Prince of Wales |url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1073091/1083764/26#?xywh=-527%2C83%2C3933%2C2512 |journal=Welsh History Review |volume=19 |issue=1 |page=23}}</ref> 

At the time, the word ''prince'', deriving as it did from the Latin {{lang|la|princeps}}, meant "first person, chief leader; ruler, sovereign."  It was not until the 14th century that it came to mean "heir to the throne".<ref>{{cite web |title=prince |url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=prince |website=Etymonline |access-date=6 April 2025}}</ref>

Following Owain's death in 1170 no other ruler, with the exception of [[Rhys ap Gruffydd]] of Deheubarth, is known to have adopted the title until 1245.<ref>{{cite book |last=Price |first=Huw |title=The Acts of Welsh Rulers, 1120–1283 |year= 2010|isbn=978-0-7083-2387-8 |publisher= University of Wales Press|pages=75–79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4E2uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Rhys used several titles, sometimes concurrently, and in two charters from the 1180s he is referred to as "Prince of Wales" or "Prince of the Welsh".<ref>{{cite book |last=Insley |first=Charles |editor-last1=Maddicott |editor-first1=John |editor-last2=Palliser |editor-first2=David |chapter=From Rex Wallie to Princeps Wallie: Charters and State Formation in Thirteenth Century Wales |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XMg5_qrDJvMC&dq=%22It+saw+the+rise+to+pre-eminence+of+the+Principalities+of%22&pg=PA179 |title=The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell |year=2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-8264-4349-6 |page=192}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Price |first=Huw |title=The Acts of Welsh Rulers, 1120–1283 |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7083-2387-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=96–98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4E2uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

The title was revived in 1245 when [[Dafydd ap Llywelyn]], ruler of Gwynedd, began using it in the final months of his reign. In the intervening years, Owen Gwynedd's successors in Gwynedd, including Dafydd, had, instead, adopted the titles "Prince of North Wales" or "Prince of Aberffraw and Lord of Snowdon".<ref name=Price7879>{{cite book |last=Price |first=Huw |title=The Acts of Welsh Rulers, 1120–1283 |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7083-2387-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=78–79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4E2uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

However, it is in the reign of [[Llywelyn ap Gruffudd]], Dafydd's nephew and successor in Gwynedd, that the title is consistently used over an extended period. From 1262{{#tag:ref|From his accession in 1246 until 1262, Llywelyn appears to have avoided using any title.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=J. Beverley |title=Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-7831-6006-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |page=284 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yl6uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> Instead, he adopted a style in formal documents that only referenced his descent from [[Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth]]. However, he briefly changed this approach in 1258 when, in an agreement between the Scottish and Welsh Lords, he used the title 'Prince of Wales' for the first time.<ref name=Price7879/>|group="note"}} to his death in 1282, Llywelyn used no other style except 'Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdon'.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=J. Beverley |title=Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-7831-6006-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=188–189, 284–285 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yl6uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> This was accompanied by Llywelyn making the [[Principality of Wales]] (encompassing Gwynedd, Deheubarth, Powys and parts of the [[Welsh Marches|Marches]]) a political reality.<ref>{{cite book |last=Insley |first=Charles |editor-last1=Maddicott |editor-first1=John |editor-last2=Palliser |editor-first2=David |chapter=From Rex Wallie to Princeps Wallie: Charters and State Formation in Thirteenth Century Wales |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XMg5_qrDJvMC&dq=%22It+saw+the+rise+to+pre-eminence+of+the+Principalities+of%22&pg=PA179 |title=The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell |year= 2000 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-8264-4349-6 |page=180}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=J. Graham |title=The History of Wales |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78316-169-0 |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=30–31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7WquBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> He had achieved this by significantly expanding his directly ruled territories into Mid- and South Wales and inducing all the other remaining native Welsh rulers to do him homage and acknowledge him as overlord by 1263.<ref name= DWBJones>{{cite DWB |id=s-LLYW-APG-1200 |title=Llywelyn ap Gruffydd |last=Pierce |first=Thomas Jones |year=1959}}</ref> Additionally, Llywelyn developed governance structures which made his authority effective across the entire Principality of Wales, including in the territories of the Welsh rulers that owed him allegiance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=J. Beverley |title=Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-7831-6006-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |page=292 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yl6uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> The significance of these developments was marked by [[Henry III of England]] recognising Llywelyn's title and authority in the [[Treaty of Montgomery]] of 1267.<ref name= DWBJones/> As [[J. Beverley Smith]] has noted, his title "at once, acknowledged and proclaimed a status unique in Welsh political history".<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first= J. Beverley |title= Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-7831-6006-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |page=285 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yl6uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref>

Llywelyn's principality was destroyed as a result of the [[conquest of Wales by Edward I]] between 1277 and 1283, during which Llewylyn was killed in 1282.<ref name=Stephenson2628>{{cite book |last=Stephenson |first=David |title=Medieval Wales c. 1050–1332: Centuries of Ambiguity |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-78683-387-7 |publisher=University of Wales Press |pages=26–28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2-yVDwAAQBAJ}}</ref> After his death, his brother, [[Dafydd ap Gruffydd|Dafydd]], adopted Llywelyn's title and continued resistance for a few months.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=J. Beverley |title=Llywelyn Ap Gruffudd: Prince of Wales |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-7831-6006-8 |publisher=University of Wales Press |page=189 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yl6uBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> However, Dafydd was defeated and executed in 1283 and the principality was permanently annexed by Edward I.<ref name=Stephenson2628/>

=== Post-conquest claimants ===
In the fourteenth century, two pretenders to the title of 'Prince of Wales' attempted to make good their claims: [[Owain Lawgoch]], a descendant of the Princes of Gwynedd, and [[Owain Glyndŵr]], whose ancestors included the former rulers of Powys and Deheubarth.{{#tag:ref|In 1294, [[Madog ap Llywelyn]] had led [[Welsh revolt of 1294–95|a rebellion against English rule]] in North Wales, during which there is evidence that he used the title "Prince of Wales" in [[Penmachno Document|one document]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Carr|first=Antony D. |title=The Gentry of North Wales in the Later Middle Ages |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78683-136-1 |publisher= University of Wales Press|page=108|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-yVDwAAQBAJ&dq=Madog+%22Prince+of+wales%22&pg=PA108}}</ref>|group="note"}} Owain Lawgoch's abortive attempt at invading Wales in 1372 was followed by Glyndŵr's much more serious revolt beginning in 1400.<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=R.R. |title= The Age of Conquest: Wales 1063–1415|year= 2000|isbn=978-0-19-820878-5 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=436–438 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=klauMOoHXK0C&dq=%22It+was+as+%27prince+of+Wales%27,+not+of+Gwynedd+or+Powys+or+Deheubarth,+that+both+Owain+Lawgoch+and+Owain+Glyn+Dŵr+put+forward+their+claims%22&pg=PA436}}</ref>

[[Glyndŵr's rebellion]] commenced with his supporters proclaiming him Prince of Wales.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first= R. R.|title=The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dŵr |publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DskDwAAQBAJ |year=1997 |page=102|isbn= 978-0-19-165646-0}}</ref> However, it is unclear how important this was in his initial objectives, given that his immediate motivation appears to have been a personal grievance with a neighbouring English Lord.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first= R.R.|title=The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dŵr |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2DskDwAAQBAJ |year=1997 |pages=153–155|isbn= 978-0-19-165646-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Williams|first=Glanmor |title= Renewal and Reformation: Wales c. 1415–1642|year= 1993|isbn=978-0-19-285277-9 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=3–4 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HU0Y3kJ2qRwC}}</ref> By 1401, he had effectively dropped his claim to the title. But, with the rebellion's military successes of 1402{{ndash}}1403 and the growth in his support in Wales, he became more ambitious. In 1404, he had himself crowned as Prince of Wales, and he launched plans to create the state institutions of a new principality. This phase of the revolt was short-lived, however. By 1406, the rebellion began to fail militarily, and, from 1409, Glyndŵr had to exchange the trappings of a ruling prince for those of a hunted outlaw. He died in obscurity, probably around 1415.<ref>{{cite book |last= Williams|first=Glanmor |title= Renewal and Reformation: Wales c. 1415–1642|year= 1993|isbn=978-0-19-285277-9 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=4–5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HU0Y3kJ2qRwC}}</ref>