1100 welsh road, lower gwynedd township, pa

Gwynedd's strength was due in part to the region's mountainous geography which made it difficult for foreign invaders to campaign in the country and impose their will effectively. The Irish Sea ( Môr Iwerddon) lies to the north and west, and lands formerly part of the Powys border the south-east. Gwynedd's traditional territory included Anglesey ( Ynys Môn) and all of north Wales between the River Dyfi in the south and River Dee ( Welsh Dyfrdwy) in the northeast. All three of these further contributed to the development of a Welsh national identity in the face of Anglo-Norman encroachment of Wales. Distinctive achievements in Gwynedd include further development of Medieval Welsh literature, particularly poets known as the Beirdd y Tywysogion ( Welsh for Poets of the Princes) associated with the court of Gwynedd the reformation of bardic schools and the continued development of Cyfraith Hywel ( The Law of Hywel, or Welsh law).

Contact with continental courts allowed for Gwynedd to transition from a petty kingdom into an increasingly sophisticated principality of seasoned courtiers capable of high level deplomacy and representation not only with the Angevine kings, but also the king of France and the Papal See. Gwynedd, located in the north of Wales, eventually became the most dominant of Welsh polities during this period. The history of Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages is a period in the History of Wales spanning the 11th through the 13th centuries. Control of the Menai and access to Anglesey ( Ynys Môn) was crucial for medieval Gwynedd The Menai Strait in 2004 crossed by Telford's 1826 suspension bridge, with Snowdonia ( Eryri) in the background.

1100 welsh road, lower gwynedd township, pa