Ffernfael ap Meurig

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Ffernfael ap Meurig or Ffyrnfael [1] or Fernmail, [2] fl. 880s, was king of Gwent in southeast Wales jointly with his brother Brochfael ap Meurig. [3] Asser says in his biography of Alfred the Great that "Brochfael and Ffyrnfael, (sons of Meurig and kings of Gwent), driven by the might and tyrannical behaviour of Ealdorman Æthelred and the Mercians, petitioned King Alfred of their own accord, in order to obtain lordship and protection from him in the face of their enemies". [1]

In early medieval Wales, it was common for brothers to share the kingship. [4] Brochfael and Ffernfael are both listed in the Book of Llandaff as witnesses to a charter of their father, but Ffernfael does not witness any surviving charter of his own, whereas several show Brochfael as a royal grantor and witness. Ffernfael may have been subordinate to Brochfael. [5] [6]

See also

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Brochfael ap Meurig was king of Gwent in south-east Wales. He ruled jointly with his brother, Ffernfael ap Meurig. Gwent and Glywysing, the neighbouring territory to the west, were ruled as a single kingdom in some periods; at other times they were separate and the king of Glywysing had the higher status. Brochfael's father, Meurig ab Arthfael, ruled both territories with the title King of Glywysing, but Brochfael and Ffernfael were only kings of Gwent, and had a lower status than their cousin Hywel ap Rhys, King of Glywysing.

References

  1. 1 2 Keynes, Simon; Lapidge, Michael, eds. (1983). Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred & Other Contemporary Sources. London, UK: Penguin Classics. p. 96. ISBN   978-0-14-044409-4.
  2. Charles-Edwards, Thomas (2013). Wales and the Britons 350–1064. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 253. ISBN   978-0-19-821731-2.
  3. Charles-Edwards, pp. 489-90
  4. Davies, Wendy (1978). An Early Welsh Microcosm. London, UK: Royal Historical Society. p. 102. ISBN   978-0-901050-33-5.
  5. Charles-Edwards, Thomas (2011). "Dynastic Succession in Early Medieval Wales". In Griffiths, R. A.; Schofield, P. R. (eds.). Wales and the Welsh in the Middle Ages. Cardiff, UK: University of Wales Press. p. 76. ISBN   978-0-7083-2446-2.
  6. Sims-Williams, Patrick (2019). The Book of Llandaff as a Historical Source. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press. p. 122. ISBN   978-1-78327-418-5.