After the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror's ambitions in Wales included the Caernarfon area. Robert of Rhuddlan was killed by the Welsh in 1088, and his cousin Hugh d'Avranches, Earl of Chester, sought to restore Norman control through three castles in North Wales. Caernarfon offered an established settlement on a peninsula protected by the River Seiont and the Menai Strait. Gwynedd captured the castle in 1115. Llywelyn the Great and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd both stayed there during Welsh control. This earlier use helps explain Caernarfon's association with the princes of Wales before Edward I's stone castle.
Chapter · 11:29-13:29
Norman conquest and Welsh recovery at Caernarfon
Norman castle building used Caernarfon's defensible peninsula before Gwynedd recovered the site in 1115 and its princes stayed there.