W Wales, English conquest of By 1276 and prior to the invasion undertaken under the reign of Edward I, Wales was divided into three separate zones Despite the opposition of the Welsh to the presence of the Angevin kings (those who had entered Wales during the Norman Conquest of England), they remained powerful in central Wales, while the Welsh monarchy, which had been in place since the 10th century, remained the powerful force in rural areas The Angevin kings were Norman, although the settlers were Saxon English This inevitably led to settlers bringing the English language with them into Wales, but this brought a negligible threat to the survival of the Welsh language The first zone applied to the areas located nearest the English border, belonging to the Marcher lords, who were the descendants of the first advancing Norman lords who accompanied William the Conqueror in the early 11th century Furthermore these were considered as the first line of defense against the counterinvasion of England by Wales However, they managed to establish their own authority and exercised their own legal system for numerous generations The two remaining zones were divided between those who remained politically independent and those under the rule of the Welsh princes The only hope for the resurgence of the Welsh princes’ power largely rested with the possibility that a weak monarch would once again lead Britain However the prevailing power of the monarch meant that the princes were largely confined to their traditional sphere of influence in the small area of Gwynedd, and in the northern section of the country, in areas such as Anglesey and Snowdonia, and it was in these areas that the traditional Welsh laws and customs prevailed A prominent Welsh prince, Llywelyn, planned a revolt against their dominance Through the support of his followers, he gained more land, defeated the incumbent royal armies, established links with Scotland, and declared himself the first and last native prince of Wales Llywelyn’s alliance began with Simon de Montfort, the last baron who stood against King Henry III De Montfort had defeated the king at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, which consequently gave official recognition to Llywelyn’s title of prince of Wales This was still subject to a payment of £20,000 to the king The Treaty of Montgomery, signed in 1267 by the restored Henry III, signaled the peak of Llywelyn’s power and gave Wales its status as a principality Wales now had a constitutional right to possess its own characteristics as a state However Llywelyn was faced with the problem of having no heir to his throne Furthermore his rival brothers were lodging a claim for the inheritance of his estate, to which they were entitled to an equal share Llywelyn lacked the funds to settle a debt he owed to Henry III Consequently Llywelyn imposed higher taxes on the people, which created considerable resentment but was considered an essential to establish Wales as a nation independent of English rule He took practical steps to facilitate this aim, attacked the Marchers’ fortresses built in South Wales as a preventative measure against the native Welsh reaching the English border, and in turn claimed power over three-quarters of Wales 423