With the death of Llewelyn the rebellion instantly collapsed, except that his brother Davydd, who had once betrayed him, kept up a show of resistance in the heart of Snowdonia. But in March 1284 he was betrayed and captured, and sent by Edward in chains to Shrewsbury to abide his trial. Davydd was unquestionably a bad man; but it is difficult to conceive of any degree of turpitude {95} meriting the dreadful penalties which were inflicted upon him. A special Parliament was summoned to meet at Shrewsbury; and it was this body, representing, as we may fairly assume that it did, the finest intellect and character in the England of the day, that, sitting in cold blood, condemned the hapless prisoner to be drawn at the tails of horses through the streets of Shrewsbury, to be hanged, to be disembowelled while still alive, then to be quartered and beheaded. English historians have been known to contrast the superior civilization of the England of Edward I with the barbarity of the Wales of Llewelyn. One might well invite them to think the matter over afresh in the light of the doings of the Parliament of Shrewsbury. About the native Welsh princes, Owen M. Edwards has finely and truly said that "they had never tortured a prisoner, or betrayed a guest, or wreaked inhuman vengeance on a fallen enemy." Wales was now conquered, and the "English Justinian" could proceed with the task of organization. In this work he was keenly interested, as is vouched for by the fact that he spent the greater part of the succeeding two years in the country. From Rhuddlan, {96} in 1284, he issued the great Statute of Wales which, until the changes wrought by Henry VIII, remained the foundation upon which the government of Wales rested. The shire principle was extended. In the north Anglesey, Carnarvon, and Merioneth were made into shires, under the jurisdiction of the Justice of Snowdon. Likewise Flint became a shire under the jurisdiction of the Justice of Chester. In the south Cardigan and Carmarthen were made shires under the Justice of South Wales. There were to be County Courts as in England; and twice every year the new official, the sheriff, was to make his tourn through the commotes. The main body of Welsh law was to remain in force; but it was subject to a good deal of modification. For the protection of the land, and especially for the subjugation of Llewelyn's stronghold of Gwynedd, a circle of the newly-devised concentric castles was built--Conway, Beaumaris, Carnarvon, Criccieth, and Harlech. In order to break the old tribal system, and in order to anglicise the population as much as possible, the growth of towns was encouraged. These were given special privileges by Royal Charter. Cardigan, Builth, Montgomery, Welshpool, Rhuddlan, Aberystwyth, Carnarvon, Conway, Criccieth, {97} Harlech, Caerwys, Beaumaris, and Newburgh were among those which received charters from Edward I; while Edward II gave charters to Bala, Llanfyllin, Cardiff,