Edward I of England began construction of Caernarfon Castle in 1283 following his conquest of Wales, intending it as the administrative capital of English power over the Welsh. With its distinctive banded stonework and polygonal towers modelled on the walls of Constantinople, it was one of the most architecturally ambitious castles in medieval Europe. The birth of the future Edward II within its walls in 1284 allowed Edward I to famously present a prince 'born in Wales who spoke no English' to the Welsh lords.

Caernarfon and Edward's Welsh castles became enduring symbols of colonial occupation in Welsh poetry, inspiring centuries of verse mourning the loss of Welsh independence. The poet Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd had earlier celebrated the Welsh princes and their halls; after conquest, Welsh bards lamented the castles as instruments of subjugation. In the eighteenth century, Gray's ode 'The Bard' depicted a Welsh poet cursing Edward I from a precipice overlooking his conquered land.