Perfeddwlad

Perfeddwlad, meaning "middle country" in Welsh ("Y Berfeddwlad" being the usual form), was a name adopted during the twelfth century for the territories in north-east Wales lying between the rivers Conwy and Dee, and comprised the cantrefi of Rhos, Rhufoniog, Dyffryn Clwyd and Tegeingl. This region is also known as Gwynedd Is Conwy (Gwynedd below the [River] Conwy), or "Lower Gwynedd"; in contrast with "Gwynedd Uwch Conwy" (Gwynedd above the Conwy), or "Upper Gwynedd".

It was known as the 'middle country' because it was situated between the two principalities (or kingdoms) of Gwynedd and Powys and was therefore sometimes the subject of dispute between them. It was also situated between Gwynedd and the English to the east, and therefore contested by those two realms, particularly as the Norman kings of England and their English succesors sought to expand their control over Wales.

Following the death of Llywelyn Fawr the Perfeddwlad was briefly conquered by Henry III of England in the 1240s but retaken for Gwynedd by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in the 1250s. It was retaken once more by Edward I in 1277 who kept the two northern cantrefs of Rhos and Tegeingl for the crown but ceded Rhufoniog and Dyffryn Clwyd to Dafydd, Llywelyn's brother who had sided with Edward.

Following Edward's final victory in the years 1282-1283 and the consequent Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, Rhos and Rhufoniog were combined to form the new lordship of Denbigh and conferred upon Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln; Dyffryn Clwyd became the lordhsip of Ruthin and was granted to Reginald de Grey; and Tegeingl became the lordship of Englefield and the main body of the proto-county of Flint under the aegis of the palatinate of Chester.