The Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd are a group of medieval fortifications in northwest Wales, among them Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech, built by Edward I of England after his conquest of the Welsh principality of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. They were designed to hold down the Welsh and to be strongholds for the English settlers, and they were planned by the Savoyard master mason James of St George. Caernarfon, with its polygonal towers and bands of colored stone, was intended as a royal and administrative center. The castles are among the finest examples of military architecture of the late thirteenth century, and they were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.
Before and after
- c. 1275Construction of the Hofburg Palace
- c. 1276Birth of Giotto
- from 1277 to 1287First Mongol invasion of Burma
- 1279Kublai Khan completes the conquest of China
- c. 1280sConstruction of Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd
- c. 1280sPolynesian navigators settle New Zealand
- c. 1280Eruption of Quilotoa
- 1281The Mongol invasions of Japan
- 29 October 1281Second Battle of Homs
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- 537 CEConstruction of Hagia Sophia
- 778 CEConstruction of Kiyomizu-dera
- 802 CEConstruction of Angkor Wat
- 1193Origins of Chernobyl
- from 29 July 1299 to 17 November 1922Ottoman Empire
- 1373Construction of Leaning Tower of Pisa
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 13th century.