John invades Gwynedd in 1211 with the aid of almost all the other Welsh princes, planning according to Brut y Tywysogion "to dispossess Llywelyn and destroy him utterly".

The first invasion is forced to retreat, but in August John invades again with a larger army, crosses the River Conwy and penetrates Snowdonia.

Bangor is burnt by a detachment of the royal army and the Bishop of Bangor captured.

The University of Wales is founded in Bangor as the "University College of North Wales" (UCNW) on October 18, 1884, with an inaugural address by the Earl of Powis, the College's first President, in Penrhyn Hall.

There is then a procession to the college with three thousand quarryman (quarrymen from Penrhyn Quarry and other quarries had subscribed over twelve hundred pounds to the university).

The result of a campaign for better higher education provision in Wales, and following some rivalry between North Wales towns as to which was to be the base of the new college, it will be incorporated by charter the following year.