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Perfeddwlad or Y Berfeddwlad (Welsh for 'Midlands') was a name adopted during the 12th century for the territories in north-east Wales lying between the rivers Conwy and Dee. In the Early Middle Ages, the region as a whole was known as Tegeingl, after the Celtic tribe Deceangli which inhabited the region since the 1st century BC. This region is also known as Gwynedd Is Conwy (Gwynedd below the [River] Conwy), or Lower Gwynedd; in contrast with Gwynedd Uwch Conwy (Gwynedd above the Conwy), or Upper Gwynedd. The region was composed of the cantrefi of Rhos, Rhufoniog, Dyffryn Clwyd and Tegeingl. As the rivalries between Gwynedd, Powys, and England evolved in the High Middle Ages, the region became known in Welsh as the Y Berfeddwlad, the middle country, as it was situated between upper Gwynedd in the west, England to the east, and Powys to the south.
Following the death of Llywelyn Fawr the Perfeddwlad was briefly conquered by Henry III of England in the 1240s but retaken for Gwynedd by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in the 1250s. It was retaken once more by Edward I in 1277 who kept the two northern cantrefs of Rhos and Tegeingl for the crown but ceded Rhufoniog and Dyffryn Clwyd to Dafydd, Llywelyn's brother who had sided with Edward.
Following Edward's final victory in the years 1282–1283 and the consequent Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, Rhos and Rhufoniog were combined to form the new lordship of Denbigh and conferred upon Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln; Dyffryn Clwyd became the lordship of Ruthin and was granted to Reginald de Grey; and Tegeingl became the lordship of Englefield and the main body of the proto-county of Flint under the aegis of the palatinate of Chester.