Post-Roman Realms of the Brithons
in Britannia, Armorica, & Gallaecia
(“post-Roman”, as in everthing since theImperium Romanum)
Sub-Roman (476-900s) Realmsof the Brithons
‘Sub-Roman’ is a better way to describes this period than is ‘EarlyMedieval’, though the terms are roughly equivalent.
The realms are organized here by imperial province merely for the sakeof convenience, not to claim or to suggest (or deny, for that matter) anycontinuity of the same, at least not at a provincial or diocesan level, thoughmany almost certainly were civitas-based.
Britannia Valentia
Alt Clud was by far the most enduring of the kingdoms in ‘the Old North’,established in the late 4th to early 5th century and lasting until 1124, albeitin its last decades as an appendage of the kingdom of Alba.
The kingdom wasbased on that of the Damnonii, at least those south of the Antonine Wall. According to Welsh legends, its kingdescended from one Paternus son of Clemens, appointed as praefectus gentiliumby Comes Britanniae Magnus Maximus in 382, making his seat at Alt Clud (Dinas yBrython, Dunbarton). Its territory wasseverely restricted by the conquest in 638 (according to most sources) byBeornicia of the areas later known as Galloway and Carrick along with Gododdin,Eidyn, and Manaw.
Following thedestruction of its seat at Dinas y Brython by Vikings in 872, it moved itscapital inland to Govan. After becomingrestricted to Clydesdale by incursions of the Hebridean Vikings and conquestsby Northumbria, it became known as YstradClud (Strath Cluid to the Gaels).Pressure on its long enemy Northumbria by Danish Viking in the followingcentury allowed it to not only recover all its former territory but even extendit to include the core territory of the former Rheged (Cumberland andWestmoreland) at its greatest extent, by which time it became known as Cumbria.
After 1070, itbecame a possession of the Kingdom of Alba, but was allowed to continue underits own laws and maintain a separate identity.The same year, Gospatric mac Maldred, Earl of Northumbria, invadedCumbria and seized what became Cumberlandshire, the part of Cumbria south ofHadrian’s Wall. Cumbria continued as aseparate nation until 1124, when its ruler David, ‘prince of the Cumbrians’, usurpedhis nephew Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair to become David I of the Brets and Scotsand merged it and the Merse into Alba.
Manau (Manaw) was a small kingdom about which little is known other thanthat it occupied the lands about the head of the Firth of Forth, probablyextending south to the Antonine Wall, roughly the same territory as that of theDumnonii north of that wall. Its namesurvives in Clackmannanshire, Slamannan Moor, and Dalmeny (formerly Dumanyn,from Dun Mannan).
Called ‘ManawGododdin’ in poems and annals to distringuish it from Ynys Manaw (the Isle ofMann), its primary fame is being the legendary original home of CuneddaGuletic, and its secondary fame is being the site of the victory of Áedán macGabráin, king of Dál Riata, in 582 (against an unnamed enemy). It fell in 638 along with its neighborsGododdin and Eidyn.
Of note is theRoman fort called Camelon one mile north of the Antonine Wall fort known asWatling Lodge, which possibly connected the wall to the Gask Ridge forts; inGaelic, it is called ‘Camlann’.
Eidyn, with its stronghold at Din Eidyn (Dun Edin, Edinburgh), broke awayfrom Gododdin in about 545. Its separateexistence is gleaned from several medieval Welsh poems about the OldNorth. It stretched at least betweenEdinburgh (Din Eidyn) and Carriden (Cair Eidyn), the later of which was alsothe eastern anchor of the Antonine Wall.Like its parent, Guotodin, it fell to the Angles of Beornicia in 638.
Guotodin (Gododdin) was one of the more famous kingdoms of the Old North due tothe great epic by the bard Aneirincalled Y Gododdin. It grew out of the Roman client kingdom ofthe Votadini in the latter’s territory north of River Tweed with its seat atDin Paladur (Traprain Law) to the Antonine Wall. Its royal line was said to have descendedfrom one Paternus son of Tacitus who was appointed praefectus gentilium in 382by Comes Maximus. About 420, it became akingdom, lasting until it was conquered by the Angles of Beornicia in 638. Din Baer (Dunbar) was another one of itsstrongholds. Afterwards, the region wasreferred to as Lothian, the original form of which, according to John Koch, wasLuguduniana (Laudonia in Latin).
Bryneich became a kingdom at the same time as Gododdin, composed of thesouthern territory of the Votadini, from the River Tweed to the River Tyne(i.e., to Hadrian’s Wall). Welsh legendstrace its royal line to one Catellius Decianus, appointed praefectus gentiliumto the area by Comes Maximus. The royalseat was at Din Gefron (Yeavering Bell), with a second stronghold at Din Guardi(Bamburgh), which was captured by the Angles in 547. Bryneich fell to the Angles of Beornicia(their form of the same name) around 600.
Goddeu is a kingdom known primarily from the epic ‘Cad Goddeu’ by the greatbard Taliesin. Most speculation from thecontext in which it is mentioned suggests it was based on the former kingdom ofthe Gadeni, who lived west of the Votadini between River Tyne and River Forth,centered around Jedburgh.
Armterid(Arfynydd; modern Arthuret, Cumberland) was a small kingdomnorth of Hadrian’s Wall between Alt Clud and Rheged established about 505, alsoknown as Cair Gwenddoleu (Carwinley).Its last nonclient king, Gwenddoleuap Ceido, was killed in the Battle of Arfynydd against Peredur and Gwrgi ofEbrauc, Dunod Fawr ap Pabo of Dunotion, and Riderch Hael of Alt Clut,instigated by Gwallog ap Lleenog of Elmet over Gwenddoleu’s seizure of the fortat Caerlaverock. Afterwards the kingdombecame dependent on Rheged. It fellalong with it (and Gododdin and Eidyn) to the Angles of Beornicia in 638. Some have speculated Armterid the kingdom wasbased on that of the Selgovae.
Enouant, also called ‘GŵyrEnouant’ and Novant, rose out of the territoryof the Novantae. It was a fourthterritory to which a praefectus gentilium was appointed in 382 by ComesMaximus, according to Welsh legends, in this case none other than his own son,Antonius Donatus Gregorius. Known asAnwn Dynod ap Macsen Wledig to the Welsh, Gregorius later transferred toDemetia (Dyfed) in the southwest of what’s now Wales. As with the others, Enuoant became a kingdomaround 418, lasting until 638, when it became part of the territories conqueredby Beornicia. In the late 9th and early10th centuries, settlement by Gall-Goidel from the Kingdom of the Isles builtup until they established the Kingdom of Galloway. The succeeding Lordship of Galloway becamepart of Scotland in 1125.
In recent years,some have tried to assert that there was a Sub-Roman kingdom called ‘Galwyddel’here, but that is an anachronism, given that the name ‘Galwyddel’ is the ModernWelsh approximation of Gall-Gaidheal (modern form of Gall-Goidel).
Aeron is another, apparently small, kingdom mentioned in Aneirin’s greatepic Y Gododdin and a few other medieval Welsh poems. Many have strongly suggested it should beidentified with Ayr, despite there being zero evidence such a kingdom existedthere, merely because of the very slight superficial similarity of thenames. Some have even gone to the extentof concocting a “hypothetical” (entirely fictional) goddess for it to be thenamesake of (“Agrona”).
The word ‘Aeron’ inModern Welsh is ‘berries’, but that doesn’t mean it meant that in the Sub-Romanperiod. For instance, ‘aya’ in ModernHebrew means ‘honey buzzard’ but in Archaic Hebrew it meant ‘hawk’. The word Aeron is, however, hom*ophonic forEireann, as in Strath Eireann, or Strathearn, much more so than for Ayr, and weknow that the ‘Scoti’ (which meant ‘Irish’ well into the High Middle Ages) werepresent and active in the area at the time.It could well have been used here on that basis the same way as‘Galwyddel’ is the approximation for ‘Galloway’, in this case as ‘YstradAeron’. Ystrad Aeron is a village insouthern Ceredigion, Wales, home of the Vale of Aeron pub favored by DylanThomas and his wife, in the valley of the River Aeron, an area known to havebeen settled by the Irish in the late 4th and early 5th centuries CE.
Britannia Secunda
Ebrauc, or Caer Ebrauc (York), was centered on Eboracum, the seat of the DuxBritanniarum in the Late Roman period as well as capital of ProvinciaBritanniae Secundae, in the former Civitas Brigantum, most of the territory ofwhich it included. The tribal capitalhad been at Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough, Yorkshire), but in the new situationEboracum was a much better choice, one mirrored in other former civitates wherea better fortified site was available.
According to mostaccounts, Coil (Coel, from Coelistius) Hen Guotepauc (Guotepauc meaning‘Protector’, a Roman imperial title) was the first ruler, and according to JohnMorris the last Dux Britanniarum before that as well (others suggest he was thelast praeses of Britannia Secunda). Itsmost famous ruler after Coel Hen was Eliffer (Eleutherius) of the GreatArmy. Majority opinion estimates itsbeginning to about 420. It fell to theAngles of Deira under Aella in 580 after the deaths of its co-kings Peredur andGwrgi, mepion Efrawg, earlier in fighting against the Angles of Beornicia underAdda at Cair Greu; its last king, Gwrgant Gwron ap Peredur, fled to Rheged.
Deifr, like most of the other kingdoms mentioned so far, coalesced about theyear 420, covering roughly the same territory as the former Civitas Parisorum(and the later East Riding of Yorkshire), which probably had its seat atPetuaria, or Cair Petuar (Brough-on-Humber).It fell to the Angles of Derenice (their form of the name) under Aellain 559.
Rheged, established about 450, at its zenith occupied roughly the same areaas Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire.In 535, the southern half split off to leave its parent kingdom withjust Cumberland and Westmoreland, its core, the former CivitasCarvetiorum. The capital of Rheged wasat Luguvalium, or Cair Lugualid (Carlisle).It reached its peak under King Urien ap Cynfarch (better known as UrienRheged), one of the most superb leaders of the Old North until he wasassassinated at the orders of a jealous ally during the Siege of Medcaut(Lindisfarne) in 590. The kingdom ofRheged fell to Beornicia in 616.
Argoed, also known as South Rheged, broke away from its parent in 535,probably a division between heirs, taking in approximately what is nowLancashire, the former territory of the Setantii. Its seat may have been at Cair Mauiguid (Manchester,site of the former Roman fort Mamucium.)
Its best known kingis Llywarch Hen ap Elidurus, who became a client of Mercia following itsconquest in 613. After fleeing to Powysfrom the later conquest by the Angles of Beornicia and Deira under Edwin in620, Llywarch Hen became one of the four most renowned bards of medieval Wales,the others being Aneirin, Taliesin, and Myrddin Wyllt.
Llywarch’s sonsreturned, apparently, ruling the kingdom as clients of Northumbria until thelatter destroyed it in 670. The royalline later moved from Powys to Ynys Manaw about 750 and were for a short timeits kings.
Pennines, a mountain kingdom whose name is otherwise unknown, was establishedaround 470 in part of the former Civitas Brigantarum by Arthuis, or Arthwys, apMor. His eldest son Pabo Post Prydeinsucceeded him, and when he died in 525, the kingdom split into three, known tohistorians as Dent (Dunotion, Dunoting), in the north; Craven, in the center;and Peak, in the south.
Dunotion (also known as Dunoting or Dent) established in the northern Penninesin c. 525, was approximately coextensive with the civil parish of Dent,formerly of Yorkshire but now part of the more recent county of Cumbria. It fell to Beornicia in 595.
Craven, also established in c. 525, in the central Pennines, wasapproximately coextensive with the deanery of Craven in the old Yorkshire. It fell to Beornicia in the early 590s.
Britannia Flavia Caesariensis
Peak, established in c. 525 in the southern Pennines, was roughlycoextensive with the modern Peak District, which is mostly in Derbyshire. It was the first of the successor kingdoms tothat of the entire Pennines to fall, to the Mercians, about 590. The Anglian tribe who became its elite werenamed the Pecsaetan, which literally means ‘Peak-dwellers’.
Elmet was established about 470 or 480, probably lying mostly south of RiverAire, but also taking in the region of Loidis (Leeds) north of it, betweenDeifr on the east and the kingdom of the Pennines on the west after the fall ofLinnius. Its seat may have been Ratae(Cair Lerion). The Angles of Beorniciaand Deira under their mutual king Deira-based Edwin drove out its last king in617, Ceretic ap Gwallog, who had been an ally of Edwin’s Beornicia-based rivaland predecessor Aethelfrith.
The territory wasformally incorporated into Edwin’s kingdom on Easter Sunday 627 (Northumbriawas not created until 654), but it is allowed to keep its separate Brythonicidentity and rulers, subject to the kings of the northern English andeventually of Northumbria. This lastedat least as late as the time of the Tribal Hidage, when we find separatedistricts of Loidis and Elmet in the rolls, which may reflect the politicalsituation at the time the area was conquered.The Anglian tribes living there at the time were the ‘Ladenses’ and the‘Elmetsaetas’.
Linnius rose in the early 400s, about the same time as the kingdoms furthernorth, with its seat at Cair Lind-colun, the ColoniaDomitiana Lindensium, or Lindum Colonia, ofthe Imperium Romanum. It fell to theAnglian tribe Lindisfaras in 480, who established the kingdom of Lindesege, orLindsey. It may have included all of theformer Civitas Corieltavarum before the fall of its eastern portion.
Cair Lerion was established about 490, centered onRatae (modern Leicester) in the former Civitas Coritanorum. It fell about 530.
Britannia Maxima Caesariensis
Calchfynydd(also Cynwidion or Calchwynedd) is one of the least known of thepost-imperial realms known to have likely existed. Some speculate (mostly by the process ofelimination) it lay in the heartland of the imperial-era Civitas Catuvellaunum,and if that were the case, its seat may have been Cair Mincip (Verulamium;modern St. Albans, Hertfordshire). Itprobably stretched from Bedfordshire to Northamptonshire. Of the Sub-Roman realms in the southeast, itlasted longest of all, not falling until sometime between 610 and 630. Its was founded c. 480 by Cynfelyn ap Arthwys, son of the king of thePennines.
Caer Went was based on the Roman-era Civitas Icenorum. Very little is known about it expect that itfell to the East Angles in the mid-6th century.
Cair Colun was established in the early 400s, based on the imperial-era CivitasTrinovantum, but with the civitas seat at Cair Calmer (CaesaromagusTrinovantum; modern Chelmsford) abandoned for the much better fortifiedCamulodunum (modern Colchester), which was only the site of the pre-Romancapital of the Trinovantes. It held outuntil 550, when it finally fell to the East Seax.
Cair Lundein (Londinium), the former diocesan andprovincial capital, was likely the seat of a kingdom occupying approximatelythe same area as the old counties of Middlesex and Surrey from about the year440 until it fell to the Middle Seax in 550.
Ceint came into being in the early 400s, with its first seat at Cair Ceint(Durovernum Cantiacum, modernCanterbury), based on the Roman-era Civitas Cantiacum (which was home to fourdifferent tribes, none of which Caesar named).After the Saxon revolt of the mid-450s led to the loss of its easternhalf, the seat moved to Cair Dourbruf (Durobrivae Cantiacorum, modernRochester). This too fell to theCantwara in 496. This east-westdivision, which may have already dated back to imperial times, continued, atleast in eccleiastical government.
Rhegin was based on the imperial-era Civitas Regnensium, with its seat likelyat Cair Cei (Noviomagus Regnensium, modern Chichester), estimated to have begunaround 477. One of the shortest-lived ofthe southeastern polities, it fell to the Sud Seax in 501.
Cair Celemion (Calleva Atrebatum; modern Silchester,Hampshire) was likely based on the former Civitas Atrebatum from the early400s. It fell to the Gewissae sometimebetween 600 and 610.
Cair Gwinntguic evolved out of the imperial CivitasBelgarum, with its political center at the former Venta Belgarum modernWinchester). It fell to the Gewissae ledby Cynric (Cunorix) in 552. Later that year, Cynric went on toCair Guallauc, the former Sorviodunumor Old Sarum (Salibury), and laid siege to it, ultimately putting its garrisonto flight to hide in the Andredes Weald.
Britannia Prima
Venedotia (Middle Welsh: Guynet;Modern Welsh: Gwynedd) originallyoccupied the tribal lands of the Brithonic Ordovices along with those of theGangani, an Irish tribe on the LlŷnPeninsula at the time of ClaudiusPtolemy (c. 150 CE). The north of whatis now Wales was never divided into civitates but remained under directmilitary control. It was founded in theearly to mid 5th century, according to Welsh medieval legend by Cunedda Wledigap Edern, a warlord of Manaw (Gododdin) who came with several sons and his retinue.
By the late 4thcentury, the Gangani relocated either back to Ireland or merged into theirDeceangli cousins east of the Ordivices (both were related to the Concani ofMunster who had moved east into Leinster).Into their place moved a colony of the Laighin from southeast Ireland,who gave their name to the peninsula (‘Llŷn’), possibly as a foederati colony.
Originally, Gwyneddincluded approximately the territories of the historic counties ofCaernarfonshire, Merionethshire, and Anglesey, then those of Denbigshire andFlintshire after it absorbed the former kingdom of Rhôs. But it soon lost Rhôs and the rest of thatlater known as Gwynedd Is Conwy to the expanding kingdom of the Mercians, onlyto regain both during the Viking Wars when = Mercia and Northumbria wereotherwise occupied.
After thesuccessful rising against the Normans in 1136, Gwynedd annexed Ceredigion (thecore part) into itself, leaving the rump of the former ‘Deheubarth’ (Dyfed andYstrad Twyi) to its former ruling dynasty.
At certain times,Gwynedd found itself divided at the River Conwy, with Gwynedd Is Conwy to theeast and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy to the west, usually when there was a successiondispute, or when the south was ascendant in Wales. It also waxed and waned, ending the medievalperiod with several cantrefs taken from Powys as well as the former kingdom ofCeredigion (minus Ystrad Twyi).
It was the king ofGwynedd who ultimately came to be acknowledged as Princes of (all) Wales from1200. It finally fell to the English in1283. Of note here is the fact that thetitle ‘prince’ derives from the Latin ‘princeps’, a title born by the emperorsof Rome and therefore originally designating a status higher than a mere king.
Rhôs, based on the territory of the Deceangli, occupied roughly thehistoric counties of Denbighshire (minus Powys Cadog) and Flintshire (minus theexclave called Maelor Saesneg in Welsh or ‘English Maelor’). It fell to the Mercians in the late 700s,with its easternmost cantref, Tegeingl (Welsh for Deceangli), part of Merciauntil the late 1100s, when Gynwedd recovered it and added it to its territory. Theindependent petty kingdom’s best known ruler was Cuneglasus (Cynlas Goch apOwain), whom Gildas condemned along with four others and referred to as “thecharioteer of the Bear”.
In later medievalWales, the region was known as ‘Perfeddwlad’, meaning ‘Middle Country’,approximately coextensive with Gwynedd Is Conwy.
Paganses (Welsh: Powys) claimed as its founder the well-known figureGuorthegern (Vortigern), who was succeeded by his son Categirn, who fellfighting alongside his brother Vortimer at the Battle of Aylesford in 455. Its initial seat was at ViroconiumCornoviorum (Cair Guricon, Wroexter),which was still thriving well into the Anglo-Saxon era when it became thecenter of the kingdom of the Wreocensaetas. By that time, however, the ruling family ofPowys had moved west to Mathafral and the eastern part of the kingdom had splitoff as Pengwern about 570.
The kingdom, whichsaw two campaigns by former general and current bishop Germanus of Auxerre, wasinitially based on the former Civitas Cornoviorum and soon expanded west totake in the upper Severn Valley and the adjacent highlands north and south.
At its greatestextent, the kingdom took in Cheshire, Shropshire, parts of Staffordshire alongwith Herefordshire, Montgomeryshire, eastern Denbighshire, and Radnorshire,making it far and away the largest kingdom of Sub-Roman ‘Wales’. The split with Pengwern left it with just thelast western three sections. The kingdomwas further reduced when the group of kingletdoms in the region Rwg Guoy aHabren split off about 800.
In 855, RhowdriMawr of Gwynedd, whose father Merfyn Frych had married Nest ferch Cadell,daughter of Cyngen ap Cadell of Powys, seized Powys upon the death ofCadell. His three sons each inheritedone of the kingdoms after his death. HywelDda of ‘Deheubarth’ gained Gwynedd and seized Powys after their rulers died ina rebellion against the Englisc.
In 1063, HaroldGodwinson, Earl of Wessex, and Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria, installedBleddyn ap Cynfyn as King of Powys and as co-ruler of Gwynedd along with hisbrother Rhiwallon. Bleedyn’s descendantscontinued in Powys as the House of Mathrafal.
In 1160, Madog apMaredudd died, with his son and heir Llywelyn killed soon after, and thekingdom was divided between his three sons, one nephew, and one half-brother.
Owain Brogyntyninherited the cantref of Penllyn, which the ruler of Gwynedd forcibly annexed,with Owain kept in place as his vassal.
Owain ap Gruffyddformed the principality of Powys Ceiliog (later Powys Wenwynwyn, roughly Montgomeryshire) south of RiverRhaeadr in 1166. Gruffydd ap Madog formedthe principality of Powys Fadog (roughly eastern Denbighshire) north of RiverRhaeadr in 1187. Powys Fadog fell to theEnglish in 1277; Powys Wenwynwynin 1283.
Pengwern, whose kings naturally also traced their line to Guorthegern, splitfrom Powys about the year 570, and at about the same time shifted their capitalfrom Cair Guricon to ‘Llys Pengwern’, which some historians believe to havebeen at Shrewsbury and others at the former Deva Victrix (Cair Legion to theBrithons, Legacaestir to the Anglo-Saxons, Chester to the High Medieval English). It took in all of Shropshire and adjacentsections of Staffordshire, Herefordshire, and, Worcestershire, for about threedecades, then subdivided into three sub-kingdoms.
These subkingdomswere: Cair Luitcoyt, based at theformer Letocetum (now Wall, Lichfield, Staffordshire); Cair Magnis, based at Magnae Dobunorum (now Kenchester,Herefordshire); and Cair Guricon, bythen based at Din Guricon (The Wrekin), overlooking the former Virconium. The overkingdom and its subkingdoms all fellto the Mercians in the wake of Oswiu of Northumbria’s invasion of 656.
Rwg Guoy a Habren (modern Welsh: Rhwng Gwy a Hafren), possibly known as Cinlipiuc(Cynllibiwg)before that, and possibly as Ferlix before that, was originally thesouthernmost section of Powys within the borders of modern Wales. The region broke away as several smallkingdoms in about 800, corresponding roughly to modern southern Montgomeryshireand all of Radnorshire. Gwrtheyrnion and Buellt, like Powys, traced their royal lines to Guorthegern (Vortigern), but the other three—Maelienydd, Elfael, and Elenydd(also known as Cwmdauddwr)—along with the two Powys cantrefs Arwystli and Cedewain, traced theirs to one Iorwerth Hirflawdd, through hisdescendant Elystan (Aethelstan) Glodrydd.
Brycheiniog, established by Irish raiders of the UíLiatháin as Garthmadrun in the late 5th century in about the same area asBreconshire. Dyfed, now under aBrithonic dynasty, gained Brycheiniog by marriage in the early 7th century,though the latter regained its independence after Seisyll ap Clydog ofCeredigion conquered Ystrad Twyi in 730, cutting it off from the kingdom ofDyfed. In 1045, Brychneiniog dividedinto the separate kingdoms of Selyf, Tewdos, and Talgarth, which were almostimmediately (re)absorbed into ‘Deheubarth’ (Dyfed). Between 1088 and 1095, the area was conqueredby Bretons who came with the Norman invasion and made into the Lordship ofBrecknock in 1093. It later becameBreconshire.
Ceredigion is alleged to have split off from Gwynedd in the 5th century in Welshlegend, but in fact seems to have always been its own. Still, its royal line traced its origin toCeretic ap Cunedda. It occupied almostthe same area as Cardiganshire and the current Ceredigion. Around 730, its king, Seisyll ap Clydog,conquered Ystrad Twyi (roughly Carmarthenshire) and added it to his realm,which 12th century Welsh legend and laws dubbed ‘Seisyllwg’ after the king(before, it was simply ‘Ceredigion’).After the death of Gwgon ap Meurig without an heir in 871, Rhodri Mawr,King of Gwynedd and Powys, moved in to take it over, installing his son Cadellas its ruler. When Cadell died in 911,Ceredigion (‘Seisyllwg’) split between his sons Clydog and Hywel Dda, who wasalready king of Dyfed. In 920, Hywel Ddainherited the remainder when his brother Cloydog died; later historians createdthe neologism ‘Deheubarth’ for the new territory, though at the time it waslikely known as Dyfed, or perhaps as ‘Dyfed and Ceredigion’.
After the recaptureof ‘Deheubarth’ from the Normans in the successful rising of 1136, Gwyneddannexed Ceredigion proper, where it remained until the conquest by Edward I in1283.
‘Seisyllwg’ is, as mentioned, a neologism forCeredigion coined in the 12th century for the period after its territoryexpanded when its king Seisyll conquered Ystrad Twyi from Dyfed around 680.
Demetia (Welsh: Dyfed) was based onCivitas Demetarum, which had its seat at Moridunum (Carmarthen, Cair Merddyn to the Sub-Roman Brithons). From the 4th century, probably in the time ofthe ‘Great Conspiracy’, it was ruled by an Irish dynasty, a branch of the UíLiatháin, with many of the immigrants also from the Déisi. During the time, it covered approximatelyPembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, and Breconshire (the earlier Dyfed, YstradTwyi, and Brycheiniog).
In the late 5thcentury, Dyfed’s territory of Garthmadrun broke away under Brychan (Broccan),and became known as Brycheiniog. Aboutthe beginning of the 6th century, the Irish dynasty was ousted by Agricola(Aircol, Aergol) Lawhir the Tribune (or ‘son of the Tribune’), whose sonVortiporius the Protector was castigated by Gildas.
In the early 7thcentury, Dyfed regained Brycheiniog, but this was offset in 730, when Seisyllof Ceredigion conquered and annexed Ysrad Twyi, blocking access. Later, Hywel Dda, king of Dyfed and jointking of Ceredigion, became its king, merging the two realms together afterinheriting his brother’s half of the other, into a kingdom dubbed ‘Deheubarth’by later historians. This lasted untilthe conquest by the Normans. Most of itlater became Pembrokeshire.
‘Deheubarth’ is a neologism for the union of the realmsof Ceredigion (as the also neological ‘Seisyllwg’) and Dyfed, along withsometimes Brycheiniog and others under one king. Before the collapse of Hen Gogledd, Welshbards referred to the southern kingdoms collectively by this name, whichliterally means ‘right hand part’ (presumably facing west vis-à-vis theAnglo-Saxons of Lloegyr), but colloquoially in this context means ‘theSouth’. After the conquest by Edward Iof England, it became Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire.
Siluria (Common Brittonic: Guent;modern Welsh: Gwent) came into beingin the early 5th century, based on Civitas Silurum, with its capital at VentaSilurum (Cair Guent, or Caerwent). Theformer legionary base of Cair Legion-guar-Uisc (Caerleon) was another importantcity. Its territory originally spreadacross roughly the same area as Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire, and westernHerefordshire, where Welsh was a major language into the 19th century.
In 474, the kingdomof Ercing (Ergyng) in the later western Herefordshire broke away for a coupleof centuries, but returned by 650. In470, the region west of River Usk broke away under Glevis ap Solar as Glevissig(Glywyssing), but was taken back just over a century later in 580. In 755, it broke away again under Rhys apIthel, though the two kingdoms were twice reunited for short periods in latercenturies.
After the NormanConquest of Wales, the kingdom was divided into five Marcher Lordships whichwere later combined into Monmouthshire, then later became the county of Gwent.
Ercing (modern Welsh: Ergyng),centered on Cair Airon (Ariconium; often identified with modern Archenfield,Herefordshire, but was actually much larger), broke away from Guent (Gwent) in474 but was reunited with it through marriage in 650. It was later taken by the Mercians.
Glevissig (modern Welsh: Glywysing),so-called after its first king, Glevis (Glywys), began as the region of Guentwest of River Usk. Its territory wasroughly the same as Glamorganshire.Glevis ap Solar made it independent in 470, but after his death in 480,it splintered into four kingletdoms. Acentury afterward, all the royal lines died out and it fell back to Guent, butprobably with some autonomy. Under Rhysap Ithel in 755, it regained its complete independence under its own dynasty,albeit one that was a branch of the senior line at Caerwent. Its seat was at Cair Tif (Cardiff), in moderntimes the capital of all Wales, where there had once been a Roman fort. The kingdom was reunited with its parenttwice for brief periods, both times under the rule of the king of Glywyssing as‘Morgannwg’.
Morgannwg (Gwlad Morgan) existed intwo periods as the union of Glywysing and Gwent, named after its first king,Morgan Hen ab Owain, who (re)united the two in 942 until his death in 974. This (re)union existed again from 1063 to1074, with the ruler in Cardiff continuing to use the title, so from then on,‘Mogannwg’ meant Glywyssing . In 1080,it was conquered by Robert fitz Hamon, who converted it into the Lordship ofGlamorgan.
Ynys Manaw, the Isle of Mann, originally had a Brithonic population and neversuffered a Roman invasion. Its royalline traced its ancestry back to Antonius Donatus Gregorius (Anwn Dynod) apMagnus Maximus, thru his grandson Tutugual (Tudwal) ap Eidinet (Ednyfed). It was conquered by Báetán mac Cairill of theDál Fiatach in 577, by Áedán mac Gabráin of the Dál Riata in 582, and by Edwinof Deira in 626. In 750, Elidyr apSandde moved the exiled royal house of Argoed from Powys, and from there latercame the ‘House of Manaw’ c. 825, from which came in Gwynedd the ‘House ofAberffraw’ and in Ceredigion the ‘House of Dinefwr’.
The island kingdomsuffered Viking raids in the first half of the 9th century, possibly whatinstigated Mermin (Merfyn) Frych ap Gwriad to relocate to Gwynedd with hisfamily (including son the later Rhodri Mawr).In 849, Gall-Goídil settlers began arriving after it was taken into theNorse Kingdom of the Isles, then subordinate to the Norse Kingdom ofDublin. From 990 to 1079, the Isles wereunder the Jarldom of Orkney, after which Godred Crovan, a scion of the UíÍmair, established the independent Kingdom of the Mann and the Isles, with YnysManaw (Eilean Vannin) as its seat.
Caer Gloui, based on the former Civitas Dobunorum with its seat at the former Colonia Nervia Glevensium (Glevum,modern Gloucester), was established about 455.In 550, probably as the result of there being three heirs, the kingdomsplit into three, adding Caer Ceri,based at the former civitas capital of Corinium Dobunorum (modern Circencester)and Caer Baddan, based at Aqua Sulis(modern Bath). A mere twenty-seven yearslater, in 577, the Brithons were badly defeated by the Gewissae at the Battleof Deorham, losing all three kings, whose realms then fell.
Dumnonia (Common Brittonic: Duvnent;Modern Welsh: Dyfneint; ModernCornish: Dewnans; modern Breton: Devnent; Anglo-Saxon: West Weahlas) seems to have grownorganically out of Civitas Dumnnoniorum, initially keeping the same capital,the Roman-built Isca Dumnoniorum, in Sub-Roman known to the Brithons as CairUisc and to the Saxons as Escanceaster.By most accounts, it included the former Civitas Durotrigum and theformer Civitas Lendienensis Durotrigum as well by the early years of the 5thcentury, and was for decades, maybe two centuries or more, one of the largestkingdoms in the Sub-Roman south.
According to 19thcentury historian Johann Martin Lappenberg of Hamburg, German Confederation,its territory covered ‘Defnas’ (Devon), ‘Cornweahlas’ (Cornwall), ‘Thornsaetas’(Dorset), ‘Sumersaetas’ (Somerset), and ‘Wiltsaetas’ (Wiltshire). For the most part, Lappenberg’s accountmirrors the 899 will of Alfred the Great, in which he referred to the people ofSomerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall as being ‘the Welsh kind’ (meaning the‘West Weahlas’), even at that late date.
Regarding the lastof these territories, however, given how exponentially bigger and much wilderSelwood Forest was in antiquity compared to the 1800s, Mr. Lappenberg’sinclusion of Wiltshire in the kingdom of seems a bit too ambitious. In truth, Selwood Forest (the Y Gwyllt of‘Wiltshire’) was a major barrier, with just wilderness between Cair Lindinis(modern Ilchester) and Cair Guallac (Old Sarum). In fact, the forest was enough of a barrierto later be the dividing line between east Wessex and west Wessex. Thus, it served as a hindrance to thewestward advance of the Gewissae (the West Seax), this being true even with theRoman roads laid through.
By contrast, theSevern Sea and Oceanus Britannicus made communication and trade with theSilures and Demetae of the later southern Wales and with tribes in Armorica,much easier. Which lends credibility tothe suggestion that the kingdom of Dumnonia straddled the Oceanus Britannicus(now known as the English Channel), just as the Irish kingdom of Dal Riatastraddled the North Channel’s Sea of Moyle.That hypothesis carries much more weight in Breton and French circlesthan in those of the British Isles.
Besides the formercivitas capitals of Cair Uisc (Isca Dumnoniorum, Exeter), Cair Durnac(Durnovaria Durotrigum, Dorchester), and Cair Lindinis (Lendinae Durotrigum,Ilchester), there were two other major settlements of note, both established inthe mid-5th century.
First, there is‘Cadbury Castle’ in South Cadbury, Somerset, the site of an Iron Age fort andsiege and battle during the Roman conquest turned into the largest fort of itsperiod in the Sub-Roman era, at least twice the size of any other in theIsles. Its great hall alone was 66 feetby 33 feet. Though there seems to havebeen some provision for domesticity, the main nature of the settlement of thesettlement appears to have been military, though shards of pottery show tradelinks to the eastern Mediterranean region.It could, perhaps, be the ‘Cellwig’ given by the earliest Welsh sourcesas base of operations of of ‘Arthur the Solder’.
Established between450 and 470, this site was completely abandoned around 580, shortly afterCeawlin son of Cynric and Cuthwine son of Ceawlin of the Gewissae smashed thearmies of Farinmail of Cair-Baddan, Condidan of Cair-Ceri, and Conmail ofCair-Gloui at the Battle of Dyrham and took their kingdoms (577), cutting offthe land connection between the “West Weahlas” and the “North Weahlas”.
Second, there arethe finds made at Tintagel (from ‘Din Tagell’ in Common Brittonic) Castle inCornwall of an extensive Sub-Roman site beneath that built atop it in 1233 byRichard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall and Rex Romanorum (‘King of the Romans’;meaning, elected heir apparent to the Imperator Romanorum, ‘Emperor of theRomans’). Archaeologists there found aroyal palace and commercial center (Tintagel is on the Severn Sea) surpassingany other such site from the era in size and opulence.
Finds demonstrateextensive trade with Aquitania in Gallia, Galaecia and Baetica in Hispania,Carthage in Africa, Aegean Greece, Phocaea in eastern Anatolia, and Cilicia insoutheastern Anatolia. In all, therewere at least a hundred buildings connected to the palace. If Cadbury Castle is ‘Celliwig’, then thissite is its counterpart ‘Camelot’ (admittedly a complete fiction invented byChrétien de Troyes), so to speak.
The whole of thissite, first established around 450, was entirely abandoned abruptly in about650, though there have been no reports of signs of attack or hostiledestruction. The inhabitants just seemto have left.
(The archaeologicalfindings at these two sites indicates either (1) that the kingdom of Dumnoniawas advanced and prosperous enough to have not only a sumptuous political andcommercial capital but a well-fortified and appointed military base with alarge garrison near its primary enemy, or (2) that these two centers representseparate kingdoms, with the one in the west being capital of the Dumnonii andthe one in the east (Cadbury Castle) being the capital of the (re)unifiedDurotriges tribe. Most historicalevidence indicates the former.)
If there weresubkingdoms, Dumononia would have been divided into Duvnent proper (CivitasDumnoniorum), Durngueis (Civitas Durotrigum), and Lindinis (CivitasLendienensis Durotrigum), with the last of these becoming Glastening (or Glastenion)in mid-6th century.
The Gewissae beganto invade Dumnonia in the mid-7th century.Glastenion fell in 658 and Durngueis in 661. These became lands of the Sumersaetas and theThornsaetas, respectively, joining the Wiltsaetas (who were mostly confined toWilton, five miles west of Old Sarum).
In 700, St. Aldhelmmakes the first known mention of Cerniu (as “Cornubia”) as an individualentity, albeit still part of Duvnent (“Dumnonia”).
Many have positedthat the name ‘Purocoronavis’ listed on the circa 700 CE itinerary of thenameless monk who wrote the Ravenna Cosmography proves the existence ofa separate tribe in the West Country called the ‘Cornovii’. However, if ‘Purocoronavis’ is a misprint forDurocornovium, that is a town at the junction of roads to Corinium Dobunorum(Circencester), Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), and Venta Belgarum(Winchester). Which is in thenortheastern section of Wiltshire, nowhere near Cornwall.
In 705, the See ofCanterbury established the Diocese of Sherbourne to cover the Sumersaetas, theDorsaetas (same as Thornsaetas), and the Defnas (here meaning the Saxons ofEast Devon) as well as the ‘West Wealhas’ (Brithons of free Devon andCornwall), with the afore-mentioned St. Aldhelm as bishop.
In 722, theGewissae lost three major battles against the ‘West Weahlas’ of Dumnonia andwere forced to retreat. In 816, CairUisc (Escanceaster to the Saxons), fell to the West Seax along with Duvnentbetween River Exe and River Tamar (according to Jenkins’ Civil andEcclesiastical History of the City of Exeter and Its Environs, 1841). Cerniu remained under its own rulers untilafter the Norman Conquest, though eventually as a client kingdom, with theborder fixed by treaty at River Tamar in 936.
After his death in899, the will of Alfred the Great refers to the people of Somerset, Dorset,Devon, and Cornwall under the name ‘Welsh kind’, the lot still known then as‘West Wealhas’.
Armorica/Brittania Minor
By the beginning ofthe 5th century, Armorica took up the western half of Provincia LugdunensisIII, the capital of which was Turonum (Tours).
The first majormigration of Brithons into Armorica, the peninsula between Normandy andAquitaine in the northwest of France, may date back to the aftermath of therestoration of order in 368 ending the Great Conspiracy of 367 inBritannia. Some Breton and Frenchhistorians have conjectured that Brithonic warriors were imported to helpregular soldiers guard against raids by Saxons and Frisians from the sea. Also, Magnus Maximus may have left largedetachments in the region circa 383.Aside from at least two major waves that could be connected to seekersof escape from Saxons, most Brithons probably arrived relocating in the normalcourse of life.
Armorica becameknown as Britannia Minor, at least to contemporary historians (Procopious of Caesarea, MariusAventicensis, Venantius Fortunatus, Gregory of Tours, etc.) as early as the 6thcentury. Its inhabitants and the InsularCelts called it Letau or Letha (‘Bretain Letha’ in the Irish Lebor Bretnach,the Irish version of Historia Brittonum).
Under the ImperiumRomanum, ‘Lower Brittany’ (the western part of the peninsula) was occupied bythree tribes organized into local civitates: Civitas Curiosilitum, CivitasOsismorum, and Civitas Venetorum.
The two formercivitates of ‘Upper Brittany’, confirmed as part of Brittany in the 851 Treatyof Angers, were: Civitas Redonum and Civitas Namnetum, along with Pagus Ratiatensis of Civitas Pictonum.
In 867, the boundaries of Brittany were further extended to includeCotenin (Civitas Unellorum) and Avranchin (Civitas Abrincatuorum) in the Treatyof Compiègne, but these territories were lost to the Normans during the Vikingoccupation in the 19th century.
Later, the designations Lower Brittany and Upper Brittany designatedthe major language spoken in the division, P-Celtic Breton in western LowerBrittany and Romance-based Gallo in eastern Upper Brittany; this demarcationhas moved progressively westward.
There are four recognized dialects of Breton; one of these, Gwenedeg,is almost unintelligible to the other three and which for historical reasons Ibelieve is more likely a surviving dialect of Continental Gaulish with a slightoverlay of Brithonic.
The three civitatesof ‘Lower Brittany’ constituted the Sub-Roman kingdoms of, respectively,Domnonea, Kernev, and Wened, though no outside source mentions any of thekingdoms by those names until the 9th century.
Domnonea (Domnonée, Dumnonia), founded according to legend by Riwal Mawr Marzhou from Gwynedd, wasbased on Civitas Curiosilitum, with its capital at Fanum Marti (modernCorseul).
Kernev (Cornouaille, Cornubia), founded according to legend by Gradlon Mawr, was based on CivitasOsismorum, with its capital at Vorgium (modern Carhaix), which later moved to Corisopitum (modern Quimper). Gradlon was later purported to be the son of legendary founder of Brittany, as a whole,Conan Meriadoc, despite that they lived two centuries apart.
Wened (Vannetais, Venetia), founded according to legend by Caradoc Vreichvras from Guent, was based onCivitas Venetorum, with its capital at Darioritum (modern Vannes).
Throughout the 6th century, the inhabitants were still distinguishableas either immigrant Brithons (Britanni) or indigenous Gauls (Armoricani).
After Charlemagnebecame ruler of all the Frankish Empire in 771, one of his first acts was toappoint Roland (yes, that Roland) as Duke of Maine and Prefect of theBreton March, comprised of Nantais andRennais.
Kingdom of Letau
From the Early Middle Ages through to the 12th century, the region nowknown in Latin as Britannia Minor, to the French as Bretaigne, in English asBrittany, in Breton as Briezh, and in Gallo as Bertaeyn was called Letau by itsinhabitants, with speakers of Cornish, Welsh, Cumbric, and Irish usingvariations of that same name.
In 825, Letau, which had never been under Frankish domination, wonrecognition of its independence from Louis the Pious, Imperator Romanorum, whonevertheless appointed Nominoe, Count of Vannes, as his Missus Imperatoris in831.
Nominoe unified Letau and beat back the attempt of Charles the Bald,King of Francia Occidentalis, to conquer it in 845. The next year, Charles the Bald was forced torecognize Nominoe as sovereign Duke of Brittany. The country at this time was composed ofDomnonea, Kernev, and Wened, known to the French as Domnonée, Cornouaille, and Vannetais.
In the 851 Treaty of Angers, Letau gained Nantais (CivitasNamnetum, capital: Condevincum,modernNantes), Rennais (Civitas Redonum, capital: Condate, modern Rennes), andRetense (Pagus Ratiatensis of Civitas Pictonum, seat at Ratiate, modernRezé). Retense, incorporated intoNantais as Pays de Retz, was a point of contention between Brittany and Anjoufor centuries. Nominoe died the sameyear, and his son Erispoe became King of Letau.
In 856, Charles the Bald of Francia Occidentalis granted territory inthe Duchy of Maine (Civitas Cenomanorum) “as far as the road from Paris toTours” to Erispoe, King of Letau, to rule as duke after the betrothal ofErispoe’s daughter to his son Louis the Stammerer, who was already establishedas Duke of Le Mans. But the grant wasrevoked the next year when Erispoe was assassinated.
In the 867 Treatyof Compiègne, Letau gained Cotenin(Civitas Unellorum) and Avranchin (Civitas Abrincatuorum).
The last King of Letau died in 907, and his disputed successor ruled asPrince rather than King until he was killed fighting Vikings in 913, the latterthen occupying the country until 939.
‘Kingdom of Blois’
An interpolation by12th century Benedictine Chronicler Jean de Marmoutier into Chronica degestis consulum Andegavorum (Chronicles of the Deeds of the Consuls ofAnjou) entitled Liber de compositione castri Ambaziae (Book ofthe composition of Castrum Blesense) relates that in 410 a Britto (Latinfor ‘Briton’ singular) from Armorica named Ivomad established a kingdom inGallia with its seat at Castrum Blesense in Civitas Carnutum. Four of the five redactions recount that hedid so after expelling the consul of Autricum Carnutum (former center of thedruids in Gallia, capital of Civitas Carnutum, modern Chartres, home to OurLady of the Underground), who is either Boson the Frank or Odo the Frankdepending on which of the different redactions one is reading. One of these redactions, however, indicatesthat rather than conquest, Ivomad and his thousand Brittones settled asfoederati invited by consul Boson.
Castrum Blesensefell to Clovis I and the Franks in 491, with its surviving garrison escaping toArmorica.
In the Middle Ages,Castrum Blesense became the city of Blois, seat of the County of Blois.
Britonia in Galicia
In the first halfof the 6th century, Romano-Brithonic exiles from Armorica and Britannia,established a colony on the north shore of the Suevi Kingdom of Galicia, inwhat had been Conventus Lucensis of Provincia Hispaniae Gallaeciae, where thenatives were Q-Celtic speakers related to the Irish. Their community quickly became known as‘Britannia Nova’ in Latin, or ‘Nova Bretaña’ in Galician.
The seat of theircommunity was in the city called Britonia, though the community spread acrossnorthern Gallaecia. The city of Britonialay in the lands of the Arrotrebae, most widely believed to have been at thesite of the current parish and village of (Santa María de) Bretoña, (municipality of) Pastoriza, (provinceof) Lugo, (autonomous region of) Galicia.
At the FirstCouncil of Lugo in 569, it became the see of a diocese catering to theimmigrant Brithons, with Maximus Monastery that later grew into the Basílica deSan Martiño de Mondoñedo in Foz, Lugo, Galicia.Their unique Celtic Rite, brought from Britannia and/or Armorica, wasrecognized at the council. The firstBishop of Britonia was Mailoc, and their diocese also called the EcclesiaBritoniensis in Latin.
The Visigothsconquered the Suevi in 585, and in 633 suppressed the Rite of Britonia in favorof the Visigothic (later Mozarabic) Rite.The city of Britonia was sacked by the invading Moors in 716, but thediocese continued until the Moors burned it entirely to the ground in 830,after which the bishop and his staff took refuge in Oviedo.
In 866, the Diocese of San Martiño de Mondoñedo waserected to replace the Diocese of Britonia.For at least a century afterward, the incumbent of this new diocese wasknown as the ‘Bishop of Britonia’. Todayit is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol.
As late as 1233, aSpanish document mentions an estate in Castro de Rey, Lugo, belonging “to thosem*n called Bretons”.
High Medieval (1000-1300)Realms of the Brithons
There are threewhich definitely fit the bill, ones that grew out from smaller realms foundedin the Sub-Roman/Early Medieval period, two of which were in the same countryoccupying almost the same territory.
Duchy of Bretaigne (Briezh,Bertaeyn)
Bretaigne is the Old French word, which I use to avoid favoring eitherof the two languages indigenous to the country of Brittany, those being Breizhin Breton and Bertaeyn in Gallo.
Alan Barbecorte, grandson of Alan the Great, was elected Duke ofBretaigne in 938, ruler of a realm reduced by the loss of Avranchin andCotentin. In 942, Duke Alan revokedclaims to Avranchin, Cotentin, and Maine, and did homage to Louis IV, King ofFrancia Occidentalis, as his sovereign.
With the Duchy of Bretaigne now part of the Kingdom of France, itdivided into the ‘des pays’ (singular ‘pays’, from the Latin ‘pagus’) of Léon (Bro-Leon), Trégor (Bro-Dreger),Saint-Briec (Bro-Sant-Breg), Saint-Malo (Bro-Sant-Malou), Dol (Bro-Zol),Rennais (Bro-Rhoazon), Nantais (Bro-Nanoed), Vannetais (Bro-Wened), andCornouaille (Bro-Gernev), the first five of these approximating the formerDomnonea. The boundaries of these werecoextensive with those of the dioceses of Bretagne, which had the same names,except that of Cornouaille, which was called Diocese of Quimper.
The Duchy maintained its autonomy and quasi-independent identity untilthe 16th century, and even then was allowed to keep its own parlement and manyof its local laws, until the French Revolution, when its distinctive status wasabolished. That was somewhat ironic,since the lead political group at the time was the Jacobin Club, originallyfounded as Club Breton, organized by delegates from Bretagne to the NationalConvention.
* * * * *
In 1941, theNazi-allied Vichy government detached Loire-Inférieure(the Ancien Regime’s Pays de Nantais, known since 1957 as Loire-Atlantique) from Bretagne and attached it to theregion of Anger, former capital of the province of Anjou. This action was reaffirmed by President deGaulle (by his lack of reversal) after the Liberation, and by every governmentof France since, despite the outcry from the people of Bretagne and of Nantais.
‘Kingdom of the Brets andScots’
In 1124, David macMaol Choluim, Prince of the Cumbrians and Lord of the Merse, became King ofAlba. In one of his first major acts, hecodified the laws of the kingdom as the Leges inter Brettos et Scottos, or‘Laws of the Brets and Scots’. Theseremained until 1305, when Edward I of England abolished them at the end of theFirst Scottish War of Independence.
Though never usedpublicly, the full official title of the kings in Scotland once this code wasestablished was ‘Rex Brettorum et Scottorum’, at least on one royal seal I haveseen a photo of (one of the Alexanders, I believe).
Principality of Cymru
In 1055, Gryffyddap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd and Powys, conquered ‘Deheubarth’, following thatin 1058 by conquering Glevissig and Guent, merging them once again asMorgannwg. By this, he became King ofall Cymru (Wales), the only one, although he did not rule them as one kingdombut as their separate parts. At his deathin 1063, the realm disintegrated back into its different kingdoms.
At the Council ofAberdyfi in 1216, Llywelyn Fawr ab Iorwerth, King of Gwynedd (which includedthe northern half of Ceredigion and all of Powys Wenwynwyn) was recognized bythe lesser lords in free Cymru as their supreme overlord with the title Princeof Cymru. This independence, autonomy,at first recognized by Norman England, came to an end with the hanging,drawing, and quartering of the fifth Prince of Wales, Dafydd ap Gruffydd in1283, followed by the annexation of the country to the Kingdom of England aslaid out in the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.
The heir to thethrone of England became the Prince of Wales beginning in 1301, and thatremains the case until today. Actualgovernance was by the prince’s advisory council sitting in London, then inLudlow, Shropshire. That council wasradically redesigned in 1472 as the Council of Wales and the Marches. In 1536, the Principality of Wales and theWelsh March were merged into one. TheCouncil was abolished by the Roundhead Parliament in 1641, then revived at theRestoration of the House of Stuart in 1660.It was finally abolished after the Glorious Revolution in 1689.
Late Medieval (1300-1500)Realms of the Brithons
The two that fithere are not Brithonic realms as realms of Brithons but are rather realms onthe island of Great Britain, Britannia Major, ruled by a dynasty of ultimatelyBrithonic origin.
Breton-descendedStewart/Stuart and the Kingdom of Scots
In 1315, Walter Stewart,6th High Steward of Scotland, married Marjorie Bruce, eldest daughter of RobertI the Bruce, King of Scots. Besidesbeing High Steward and a fairly decent general, Walter was thegreat-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Alan, hereditary Dapifer of theArchbishop of Dol-de-Bretagne, the top bishop in Brittany. His cousins there still held the position ofdapifer to the archbishop, and his family were also cousins of the FitzAlans,Earls of Arundel.
His and Marjorie’sson became Robert II Stewart, King of Scots, upon the death of David II Brucein 1371. From then until 1603, theStewarts of Breton descent ruled the Kingdom of Scots (in one case, a queen)from Edinburgh, with the last two monarchs from this period altering thespelling of their surname to Stuart: Robert II, Robert III (born John), JamesI, James II, James III, James IV, James V, Mary I, and James VI.
Welsh-origin Tudors and theKingdom of England
Though the thereigns of this dynasty mostly lay in the Early Modern period, it began in thefinal years of the Late Medieval period.
In 1215, Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig became Seneschal ofGwynedd to Llywelyn Fawr ab Iorwerth, Prince of Cymru, and later to his sonDafydd. He married Gwenllian, daughterof Rhys ap Gruffydd, king of ‘Deheubarth’.His great-great-great-great-grandson, Owen Tudor of the Tudurs ofPenmynydd married Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V of England from theHouse of Lancaster and mother of the future Henry VI.
Owen’s son Edmund became Earl of Richmond, a title whose first holderswere members Breton ducal family and to which his son Henry latersucceeded. After the Lancasters foundthemselves on the losing side in the War of the Roses, Henry Tudor, Earl ofRichmond, went into exile in Brittany along with his family. In the summer of 1485, Henry landed in Waleswith a small army of French and Scots, gathered Welsh supporters, and marchedinto England to defeat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, where Henry’sstaunchest Welsh supporter, Rhys ap Thomas, dispatched the last monarch of theHouse of York.
After hiscoronation, when he became the first ruler of Brithonic descent to rule whathad once been Roman Britannia, Henry VII followed through with his promise tomarry Elizabeth of York, uniting the two rival Plantagenet lines. Their son (Henry VIII), grandson (Edward VI),grandniece (Jane Grey), and two granddaughters (Mary I and Elizabeth I) ruledEngland and Ireland after him until the death of Elizabeth in 1603.
Early Modern (1500-1800)Realms of the Brithons
These two arereally continuations of the two previous realms, but in radically differentforms.
Stuart Kingdom of England andScotland and Kingdom of Ireland
In 1603 when QueenElizabeth I of England died without issue, the Stuarts becames monarchs ofEngland by virtue of James IV Stewart of Scots having married Margaret Tudor,eldest daughter of Henry VII. Theireldest surviving daughter was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who after she wasoverthrown by the Confederate Lords in 1567 fled to England only to becomeinvolved in a plot to overthrow Elizabeth I, for which she lost her head.
Not surprisingly,considering events in her life, Elizabeth I refused to name a successor,therefore her Secretary of State of England, Robert Cecil, was forced tocommunicate with James VI of Scots, only surviving son of headless Mary,regarding his future accession, which was proclaimed in London upon Elizabeth’sdeath. Thus did the Breton-origin Houseof Stuart succeed the Welsh-origin House of Tudor as rulers of the greater partof what was once Roman Britannia.
From 1603 to 1707(except for the Interregnum of the Commonwealth 1649-1660), six members of theHouse of Stuart ruled the Kingdom of England and Scotland* and the Kingdom ofIreland: James I & VI, Charles I, Charles II, James II & VII, Mary II(Orange-Nassau née Stuart), andAnne, the last monarch of England and Scotland and of Ireland.
(*The title usedfor the monarch in Scotland was King or Queen of Scots throughout this period,until the Union of Parliaments.)
Stuart Kingdom of GreatBritain and Kingdom of Ireland
From the Union ofParliaments in 1707 until her death in 1714, Anne (Oldenberg née Stuart) ruled as Queen of GreatBritain and Queen of Ireland, and after her death was succeeded by George Welfof Hanover, the first in a line of German monarchs and monarchs of Germandescent that has ruled the kingdoms (Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom ofIreland, 1707-1800; Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1800-1921; Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Northern Ireland, 1921-present) until the present day.
