Kingdom of Morgannwg | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 7th/8th century–c. 745 942–974 1055/1063–1091 | |||||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Various [1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Welsh | ||||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||||||
| c. 7th/8th century | |||||||||||||||||
• Union disestablished | c. 745 | ||||||||||||||||
| 942 | |||||||||||||||||
• Union disestablished | 974 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1055 | |||||||||||||||||
• Independent | 1063 | ||||||||||||||||
• Conquered (by the Norman lord, Robert Fitzhamon) | 1091 | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Morgannwg was a medieval Welsh kingdom formed via the merger of the kingdoms of Glywysing and Gwent.
First under King Morgan the Generous (fl. c. 630-730) until the end of the reign of his descendant Ithel (d. c. 745), and later again under King Morgan the Old (r. 942-74), the kingdom merged with Gwent and changed its name to Morgannwg or Gwlad Morgan in honour of the Morgan Kings. [2] [3] During such unions Glywysing and Gwent seem to have been together or occasional sub-kingdoms or principalities of the Kingdom of Morgannwg. [2]
After the death of Morgan the Old, Gwent and Glywysing were separated again from 974 to 1055, but Glywysing alone was often referred to as Morgannwg. Both areas were conquered by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn in about 1055, subsequently King of Wales, but on Gruffydd's death in 1063, Glywysing was regained by the native lineage under Caradog ap Gruffudd. [2] Morgannwg, the union between Gwent and Glywysing, was reconstituted. How this occurred is unclear; possibly the Kings of Glywysing were also Kings of Morgannwg and the Kings of Gwent were semi-independent under-Kings, or vice versa. [2]
With Gwent increasingly overrun by the Norman conquest of Wales, the last native King of Morgannwyg and Glywysing was Iestyn ap Gwrgan (1081–1090), who was subsequently deposed by Robert Fitzhamon. Iestyn's sons became Lords of Afan, while Owain ap Caradog ap Gruffudd contented himself with Gwynllwg and founded the line of the Lords of Caerleon. [2]
The name Morgannwg is still used in Wales for the former Marcher Lordship and county of Glamorgan (itself a corruption of the term Gwlad Morgan) and its successor counties
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The kingdom of Morgannwg was formed by the union of the kingdoms of Morgannwg and Gwent. Over time, in a few instances, the kingdoms were separate and independent.
Glywysing is ruled by the Kings of Gwent until Rhys ap Ithel
Iestyn was the last ruler of an independent Morgannwg, which was thereafter in the possession of the Normans and became the lordship of Glamorgan
Iestyn was the last ruler of an independent Morgannwg, which was thereafter in the possession of the Normans and became the lordship of Glamorgan
Gruffudd ap Cynan, sometimes written as Gruffydd ap Cynan, was King of Gwynedd from 1081 until his death in 1137. In the course of a long and eventful life, he became a key figure in Welsh resistance to Norman rule.
Deheubarth was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd. It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of Dinefwr, but that Deheubarth itself was not considered a proper kingdom on the model of Gwynedd, Powys, or Dyfed is shown by its rendering in Latin as dextralis pars or as Britonnes dexterales and not as a named land. In the oldest British writers, Deheubarth was used for all of modern Wales to distinguish it from Hen Ogledd, the northern lands whence Cunedda originated.
Rhys ap Tewdwr was a king of Deheubarth in Wales and member of the Dinefwr dynasty, a branch descended from Rhodri the Great. Following the Norman Conquest, he had to pay William the Conqueror to keep his kingdom, which lasted until the end of William's reign.
Trahaearn ap Caradog was a King of Gwynedd. Trahaearn was a son of Caradog ap Gwyn, ruler of Arwystli, a small state, on the south-western border between Gwynedd and Powys. He was born in 1044 in Arwystli, and died in 1081 in Mynydd Carn in Pembrokeshire, at the Battle of Mynydd Carn.
Gruffydd ap Rhydderch was a king of Gwent and part of the kingdom of Morgannwg in south Wales and later king of Deheubarth.
Caradog ap Gruffydd was a Prince of Gwent in south-east Wales in the time of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn and the Norman conquest, who reunified his family's inheritance of Morgannwg and made repeated attempts to reunite southern Wales by claiming the inheritance of the Kingdom of Deheubarth.
Cadwgan ap Bleddyn (1051–1111) was a prince of the Kingdom of Powys in north eastern Wales. He was the second son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn who was king of both Kingdom of Powys and Gwynedd.
Rhydderch ap Iestyn was king of Gwent and Morgannwg in south Wales and later took over the kingdom of Deheubarth and controlled Powys.
Athrwys ap Meurig was a prince, and possibly king, of Gwent and Glywysing in Wales. He was the son of King Meurig ap Tewdrig and the father of the later king Morgan ab Athrwys. It is possible he died before his father Meurig and did not live to rule as king himself.
Gwent was a medieval Welsh kingdom, lying between the Rivers Wye and Usk. It existed from the end of Roman rule in Britain in about the 5th century until the Norman invasion of Wales in the 11th century. Along with its neighbour Glywyssing, it seems to have had a great deal of cultural continuity with the earlier Silures, keeping their own courts and diocese separate from the rest of Wales until their conquest by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Although it recovered its independence after his death in 1063, Gwent was the first of the Welsh kingdoms to be overrun following the Norman conquest.
Glywysing was, from the sub-Roman period to the Early Middle Ages, a petty kingdom in south-east Wales. Its people were descended from the Iron Age tribe of the Silures, and frequently in union with Gwent, merging to form Morgannwg.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1001–1100 to Wales and its people.
Morgan ap Athrwys or Morgan Mwynfawr was a king of Gwent and Glywysing in southeast Wales. He was the grandson of Meurig ap Tewdrig and the son of Athrwys ap Meurig.
Owain ap Hywel was a king of Glywysing and Gwent in southeastern Wales.
Meurig ab Ithel or Idwal was an 8th-century king of part of Glywysing in southern Wales.
Ab Owain is a Celtic surname from the Welsh ab Owain meaning "son of Owen"
Morgan ap Hywel was Lord of Gwynllwg in Wales from about 1215 until his death in 1245, and for many years laid claim to the lordship of Caerleon, which had been seized by the Earl of Pembroke. For most of his life he was at peace with the English, at a time when there were periodic revolts by Welsh leaders against their rule. He may have participated in a crusade between 1227 and 1231.
Arthfael Hen ap Rhys, also called Arthfael the Old, was the king of the Kingdom of Glywysing between 785 and approximately 825 AD.
Owain ap Caradog, known as Owain ‘Wan’ was the son and heir of King Caradog ap Gruffydd of Morgannwg, who contested the Kingdom of Deheubarth and was killed in the Battle of Mynydd Carn in 1081. Owain contented himself by ruling the former sub-kingdom and later Lordship of Gwynllwg, while the title of King of Morgannwg went to his relative Iestyn ap Gwrgant, who was subsequently deposed c. 1090 as part of the Norman conquest of Wales. In spite of this Owain continued to hold onto territories between the Rhymney and Usk, and may, probably with some struggle, have held onto some or all of Caerleon, where in 1086 the Domesday book records that a small colony of eight carucates of land was held by Turstin FitzRolf, standard bearer to William the Conqueror at Hastings, under the overlordship of William d'Ecouis, a magnate with lands in Herefordshire, Norfolk and other counties. Also listed on the manor were three Welshmen with as many ploughs and carucates, who continued their Welsh customs.
Medieval Welsh kingdoms | |
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