§ 1. King Edward kept the following Christmas at Rhuddlan, and believing that the native ecclesiastics used their influence to promote the cause of the Welsh Princes, he caused so many of the priests to be hung that the Archbishop of Canterbury ventured to rebuke him for such sacrilegious severity.

An assembly of Cymric chieftains, called together by Prince David on the news of Llewelyn's death, acknowledged him as his brother's successor and sovereign prince of Wales. The fortresses of Snowdon remained in his keeping, and winter rendered them for the present impregnable and unapproachable.

On March 7, 1283, King Edward enacted the Statutes of Rhuddlan. The preamble states that the king had caused the laws and regulations up to that time in force in those parts to be read over before himself and his nobles, and that, having clearly understood their bearing, he had, by the advice of his council, annulled some, permitted some to stand, amended others, and decreed to add certain new ones to be perpetually observed throughout Wales, which Divine Providence had now delivered entirely into his hands.