My task is to investigate all the evidence and see how much I agree with the interpretation that Edward built Caernarfon castle solely for the purpose of showmanship.

Authors Avatar

Introduction

My task is to investigate all the evidence and see how much I agree with the interpretation that Edward built Caernarfon castle solely for the purpose of showmanship. I have collected lots of evidence and sources and have also been on a field trip to the castle itself to collect first hand information and sources of my own.

        It can be argued that Caernarfon is the most magnificent castle in Wales. It is obvious from simply looking at it that Edward must really wanted to build something special at Caernarfon. This is shown in the carvings, the possible links to Rome and it’s size. However, it also has some unique defence features, for example, the three way arrow slits that can only be seen in Caernarfon.

        Edward and Llewelyn were at war at the time that Edward built Caernarfon castle. For a while, there had been a lot of fighting among the Welsh and Gwynedd had been the largest and strongest region of Wales. In 1244, the English King, Henry III saw the ructions in Wales as a chance to invade and take over. He did this and had a clear victory. He did still realise though that Llewelyn deserved some respect as he was the Prince of Wales, so he gave half of the divided Gwynedd to him, and half to Llewelyn’s brother, Dafydd, on the condition that they continued to pay homage to the English King.

Join now!

        When Henry died, his son Edward became King. Things began to become tense, firstly, when Llewelyn refused to attend Edward’s coronation. He gave the excuse that he feared for his life. A year later, King Edward travelled all the way to Chester for a meeting with Llewelyn to give him a chance to pay homage. Again, Llewelyn failed to turn up. Edward was very angry with this. The final thing that Llewelyn did to enrage Edward was to become engaged to Eleanor, daughter of Simon de Mountfort, the old enemy of the King. This was seen as a great insult ...

This is a preview of the whole essay