Culture of Gwynedd During The High Middle Ages - Settlements, Architecture, and Economy

Settlements, Architecture, and Economy

When Gruffudd ap Cynan died in 1137 he left a more stable realm than had hitherto existed in Gwynedd for more than 100 years. No foreign army was able to cross the Conwy into upper Gwynedd. The stability in upper Gwynedd provided by Gruffudd ap Cynan and his son Owain Gwynedd, between 1101 and 1170, allowed Gwynedd's Welsh to plan for the future without fear that home and harvest would "go to the flames" from invaders.

Settlements in Gwynedd became more permanent, with buildings of stone replacing timber structures. Stone churches in particular were built across Gwynedd, with so many limewashed that "Gwynedd was bespangled with them as is the firmament with stars". Gruffudd had built stone churches at his princely manors, and Lloyd suggests Gruffudd's example led to the rebuilding of churches with stone in Penmon, Aberdaron, and Towyn in the Norman fashion.

By the 13th century Gwynedd was the cornerstone of the Principality of Wales (that is Pura Wallia), which came to encompass three quarters of the surface area of modern Wales; "from Anglesey to Machen, from the outskirts of Chester to the outskirts of Cydweli". By 1271, Prince Llywelyn II could claim a growing population of about 200,000 people, or a little less than three fourths of the total Welsh population.

Population increase was common throughout Europe in the 13th century, but in Wales it was more pronounced. By Llywelyn II's reign as much as 10 per cent of the population were town-dwellers. Additionally, "unfree slaves... had long disappeared" from within Pura Wallia due in large part form the social upheavals of the 11th century," argued Davies. The increase in free men allowed the prince to call on and field a far more substantial and professional army.

The increase in the Welsh population in Gwynedd, and in the Principality of Wales as a whole, allowed a greater diversification of the economy. The Meirionnydd tax rolls evidence the thirty-seven various professions present in Meirionnydd directly before the Edwardian Conquest of 1282.

Of these professions, there were eight gold-smiths, four professional bards (poets), 26 shoemakers, a doctor in Cynwyd and an hotel keeper in Maentwrog, and 28 priests, two of whom were university graduates. Also present were a significant number of fishermen, administrators and clerics, professional men and craftsmen.

With the average temperature of Wales a degree or two higher than it is today, more Welsh lands were arable, "a crucial bonus for a country like Wales," wrote historian Dr John Davies.

Of significant importance for the Welsh of Gwynedd and Pura Wallia were more developed trade routes, which allowed the introduction of the windmill, the fulling-mill, and the horse collar (the horse collar doubled the efficiency of horse-power).

Gwynedd traded cattle, skins, cheese, timber, horses, wax, dogs, hawks, and fleeces, and also flannel (with the growth of fulling mills). Flannel was second only to cattle among the principality’s exports. In exchange, the principality imported salt, wine, wheat, and other luxuries from London and Paris. But most importantly for the defense of the principality, iron and specialized weaponry were also imported.

Welsh dependence on foreign imports was a tool that England used to wear down Gwynedd and the Principality of Wales during times of conflict between the two countries.