On the death of his father, Edward succeeded to the throne, and determined to exert every effort which his power and talents afforded, to obtain what had long been the object of his ambition, the entire conquest of Wales. Soon after Easter, 1277, Edward left London to regulate the measures of the ensuing campaign; and that the administration of justice might not be delayed, by the absence of the king and the length of the war, he removed the Court of Exchequer and the Court of King’s Bench to Shrewsbury. In the general accommodation made with the vanquished followers of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, in 1264, Llewellin ap Gryffydd was included; but he saw that a blow was meditating by the English king, which though suspended for a time, would be the more severe, and fall with greater weight on his country. Llewellin thought it prudent to secure the support of the adherents of the house of Montfort, of whom many yet remained in England by solemnizing his marriage with the daughter of the late earl. He therefore demanded the young lady from the French king, to whose court on the demise of her father she had retired, but on her passage to Wales she was taken by some of the English vessels and detained at the court of Edward. Llewellin demanded the fulfilment of a treaty made between Henry III. and himself and the release of his bride from Edward, while the latter required Llewellin to appear and do homage for his kingdom, which he refused to perform unless hostages were delivered for the safety of his person. This was the ostensible cause of the war undertaken by Edward, and the pretext for attempting an entire conquest of the principality. Edward cautiously avoided putting to the test the well known valour of a nation inflamed with a just sense of their wrongs and proud of their ancient independence.—Llewellin unable to face an enemy pressing on by slow, cautious, and decisive operations, returned to the mountains of Snowdon, and Edward not choosing to enter the recesses of that difficult country, calmly awaited the result of his policy. The prospect of a famine seconded his prudential schemes, and Llewellin had no better alternative than to implore the clemency of the English monarch. Little generosity or pity was to be expected in the terms granted by Edward, and accordingly Llewellin agreed to pay 5000 marks as a fine; to do homage for his crown; to relinquish all the country between Chester and the river Conway; and to deliver hostages for his future submission.