Post-Roman Realms of the Brithons in Britannia, Armorica, & Gallaecia

Post-Roman Realms of the Brithons
in Britannia, Armorica, & Gallaecia
(“post-Roman”, as in everthing since the Imperium Romanum)

Sub-Roman (476-900s) Realms of the Brithons

‘Sub-Roman’ is a better way to describes this period than is ‘Early Medieval’, though the terms are roughly equivalent.

The realms are organized here by imperial province merely for the sake of convenience, not to claim or to suggest (or deny, for that matter) any continuity of the same, at least not at a provincial or diocesan level, though many 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, albeit in its last decades as an appendage of the kingdom of Alba.

The kingdom was based on that of the Damnonii, at least those south of the Antonine Wall.  According to Welsh legends, its king descended from one Paternus son of Clemens, appointed as praefectus gentilium by Comes Britanniae Magnus Maximus in 382, making his seat at Alt Clud (Dinas y Brython, Dunbarton).  Its territory was severely restricted by the conquest in 638 (according to most sources) by Beornicia of the areas later known as Galloway and Carrick along with Gododdin, Eidyn, and Manaw.

Following the destruction of its seat at Dinas y Brython by Vikings in 872, it moved its capital inland to Govan.  After becoming restricted to Clydesdale by incursions of the Hebridean Vikings and conquests by Northumbria, it became known as Ystrad Clud (Strath Cluid to the Gaels).  Pressure on its long enemy Northumbria by Danish Viking in the following century allowed it to not only recover all its former territory but even extend it to include the core territory of the former Rheged (Cumberland and Westmoreland) at its greatest extent, by which time it became known as Cumbria.

After 1070, it became a possession of the Kingdom of Alba, but was allowed to continue under its own laws and maintain a separate identity.  The same year, Gospatric mac Maldred, Earl of Northumbria, invaded Cumbria and seized what became Cumberlandshire, the part of Cumbria south of Hadrian’s Wall.  Cumbria continued as a separate nation until 1124, when its ruler David, ‘prince of the Cumbrians’, usurped his nephew Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair to become David I of the Brets and Scots and merged it and the Merse into Alba.

Manau (Manaw) was a small kingdom about which little is known other than that it occupied the lands about the head of the Firth of Forth, probably extending south to the Antonine Wall, roughly the same territory as that of the Dumnonii north of that wall.  Its name survives in Clackmannanshire, Slamannan Moor, and Dalmeny (formerly Dumanyn, from Dun Mannan).

Called ‘Manaw Gododdin’ in poems and annals to distringuish it from Ynys Manaw (the Isle of Mann), its primary fame is being the legendary original home of Cunedda Guletic, and its secondary fame is being the site of the victory of Áedán mac Gabráin, king of Dál Riata, in 582 (against an unnamed enemy).  It fell in 638 along with its neighbors Gododdin and Eidyn.

Of note is the Roman fort called Camelon one mile north of the Antonine Wall fort known as Watling Lodge, which possibly connected the wall to the Gask Ridge forts; in Gaelic, it is called ‘Camlann’.

Eidyn, with its stronghold at Din Eidyn (Dun Edin, Edinburgh), broke away from Gododdin in about 545.  Its separate existence is gleaned from several medieval Welsh poems about the Old North.  It stretched at least between Edinburgh (Din Eidyn) and Carriden (Cair Eidyn), the later of which was also the 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 to the great epic by the bard Aneirin called Y Gododdin.  It grew out of the Roman client kingdom of the Votadini in the latter’s territory north of River Tweed with its seat at Din Paladur (Traprain Law) to the Antonine Wall.  Its royal line was said to have descended from one Paternus son of Tacitus who was appointed praefectus gentilium in 382 by Comes Maximus.  About 420, it became a kingdom, lasting until it was conquered by the Angles of Beornicia in 638.  Din Baer (Dunbar) was another one of its strongholds.  Afterwards, the region was referred to as Lothian, the original form of which, according to John Koch, was Luguduniana (Laudonia in Latin).

Bryneich became a kingdom at the same time as Gododdin, composed of the southern territory of the Votadini, from the River Tweed to the River Tyne (i.e., to Hadrian’s Wall).  Welsh legends trace its royal line to one Catellius Decianus, appointed praefectus gentilium to the area by Comes Maximus.  The royal seat 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 great bard Taliesin.  Most speculation from the context in which it is mentioned suggests it was based on the former kingdom of the Gadeni, who lived west of the Votadini between River Tyne and River Forth, centered around Jedburgh.

Armterid (Arfynydd; modern Arthuret, Cumberland) was a small kingdom north of Hadrian’s Wall between Alt Clud and Rheged established about 505, also known as Cair Gwenddoleu (Carwinley).  Its last nonclient king, Gwenddoleu ap Ceido, was killed in the Battle of Arfynydd against Peredur and Gwrgi of Ebrauc, 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 fort at Caerlaverock.  Afterwards the kingdom became dependent on Rheged.  It fell along with it (and Gododdin and Eidyn) to the Angles of Beornicia in 638.  Some have speculated Armterid the kingdom was based on that of the Selgovae.

Enouant, also called ‘Gŵyr Enouant’ and Novant, rose out of the territory of the Novantae.  It was a fourth territory to which a praefectus gentilium was appointed in 382 by Comes Maximus, according to Welsh legends, in this case none other than his own son, Antonius Donatus Gregorius.  Known as Anwn Dynod ap Macsen Wledig to the Welsh, Gregorius later transferred to Demetia (Dyfed) in the southwest of what’s now Wales.  As with the others, Enuoant became a kingdom around 418, lasting until 638, when it became part of the territories conquered by Beornicia.  In the late 9th and early 10th centuries, settlement by Gall-Goidel from the Kingdom of the Isles built up until they established the Kingdom of Galloway.  The succeeding Lordship of Galloway became part 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 Modern Welsh approximation of Gall-Gaidheal (modern form of Gall-Goidel).

Aeron is another, apparently small, kingdom mentioned in Aneirin’s great epic Y Gododdin and a few other medieval Welsh poems.  Many have strongly suggested it should be identified with Ayr, despite there being zero evidence such a kingdom existed there, merely because of the very slight superficial similarity of the names.  Some have even gone to the extent of concocting a “hypothetical” (entirely fictional) goddess for it to be the namesake of (“Agrona”).

The word ‘Aeron’ in Modern Welsh is ‘berries’, but that doesn’t mean it meant that in the Sub-Roman period.  For instance, ‘aya’ in Modern Hebrew means ‘honey buzzard’ but in Archaic Hebrew it meant ‘hawk’.  The word Aeron is, however, homophonic for Eireann, as in Strath Eireann, or Strathearn, much more so than for Ayr, and we know that the ‘Scoti’ (which meant ‘Irish’ well into the High Middle Ages) were present 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 ‘Ystrad Aeron’.  Ystrad Aeron is a village in southern Ceredigion, Wales, home of the Vale of Aeron pub favored by Dylan Thomas and his wife, in the valley of the River Aeron, an area known to have been 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 Dux Britanniarum in the Late Roman period as well as capital of Provincia Britanniae Secundae, in the former Civitas Brigantum, most of the territory of which it included.  The tribal capital had been at Isurium Brigantum (Aldborough, Yorkshire), but in the new situation Eboracum was a much better choice, one mirrored in other former civitates where a better fortified site was available.

According to most accounts, Coil (Coel, from Coelistius) Hen Guotepauc (Guotepauc meaning ‘Protector’, a Roman imperial title) was the first ruler, and according to John Morris the last Dux Britanniarum before that as well (others suggest he was the last praeses of Britannia Secunda).  Its most famous ruler after Coel Hen was Eliffer (Eleutherius) of the Great Army.  Majority opinion estimates its beginning to about 420.  It fell to the Angles of Deira under Aella in 580 after the deaths of its co-kings Peredur and Gwrgi, mepion Efrawg, earlier in fighting against the Angles of Beornicia under Adda 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 the year 420, covering roughly the same territory as the former Civitas Parisorum (and the later East Riding of Yorkshire), which probably had its seat at Petuaria, or Cair Petuar (Brough-on-Humber).  It fell to the Angles of Derenice (their form of the name) under Aella in 559.

Rheged, established about 450, at its zenith occupied roughly the same area as Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire.  In 535, the southern half split off to leave its parent kingdom with just Cumberland and Westmoreland, its core, the former Civitas Carvetiorum.  The capital of Rheged was at Luguvalium, or Cair Lugualid (Carlisle).  It reached its peak under King Urien ap Cynfarch (better known as Urien Rheged), one of the most superb leaders of the Old North until he was assassinated at the orders of a jealous ally during the Siege of Medcaut (Lindisfarne) in 590.  The kingdom of Rheged 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 now Lancashire, 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 king is Llywarch Hen ap Elidurus, who became a client of Mercia following its conquest in 613.  After fleeing to Powys from the later conquest by the Angles of Beornicia and Deira under Edwin in 620, Llywarch Hen became one of the four most renowned bards of medieval Wales, the others being Aneirin, Taliesin, and Myrddin Wyllt.

Llywarch’s sons returned, apparently, ruling the kingdom as clients of Northumbria until the latter destroyed it in 670.  The royal line later moved from Powys to Ynys Manaw about 750 and were for a short time its kings.

Pennines, a mountain kingdom whose name is otherwise unknown, was established around 470 in part of the former Civitas Brigantarum by Arthuis, or Arthwys, ap Mor.  His eldest son Pabo Post Prydein succeeded him, and when he died in 525, the kingdom split into three, known to historians 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 Pennines in 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, was approximately 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 roughly coextensive with the modern Peak District, which is mostly in Derbyshire.  It was the first of the successor kingdoms to that of the entire Pennines to fall, to the Mercians, about 590.  The Anglian tribe who became its elite were named the Pecsaetan, which literally means ‘Peak-dwellers’.

Elmet was established about 470 or 480, probably lying mostly south of River Aire, but also taking in the region of Loidis (Leeds) north of it, between Deifr on the east and the kingdom of the Pennines on the west after the fall of Linnius.  Its seat may have been Ratae (Cair Lerion).  The Angles of Beornicia and Deira under their mutual king Deira-based Edwin drove out its last king in 617, Ceretic ap Gwallog, who had been an ally of Edwin’s Beornicia-based rival and predecessor Aethelfrith.

The territory was formally incorporated into Edwin’s kingdom on Easter Sunday 627 (Northumbria was not created until 654), but it is allowed to keep its separate Brythonic identity and rulers, subject to the kings of the northern English and eventually of Northumbria.  This lasted at least as late as the time of the Tribal Hidage, when we find separate districts of Loidis and Elmet in the rolls, which may reflect the political situation 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 further north, with its seat at Cair Lind-colun, the Colonia Domitiana Lindensium, or Lindum Colonia, of the Imperium Romanum.  It fell to the Anglian tribe Lindisfaras in 480, who established the kingdom of Lindesege, or Lindsey.  It may have included all of the former Civitas Corieltavarum before the fall of its eastern portion.

Cair Lerion was established about 490, centered on Ratae (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 the post-imperial realms known to have likely existed.  Some speculate (mostly by the process of elimination) 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).  It probably stretched from Bedfordshire to Northamptonshire.  Of the Sub-Roman realms in the southeast, it lasted 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 the Pennines.

Caer Went was based on the Roman-era Civitas Icenorum.  Very little is known about it expect that it fell to the East Angles in the mid-6th century.

Cair Colun was established in the early 400s, based on the imperial-era Civitas Trinovantum, but with the civitas seat at Cair Calmer (Caesaromagus Trinovantum; modern Chelmsford) abandoned for the much better fortified Camulodunum (modern Colchester), which was only the site of the pre-Roman capital of the Trinovantes.  It held out until 550, when it finally fell to the East Seax.

Cair Lundein (Londinium), the former diocesan and provincial capital, was likely the seat of a kingdom occupying approximately the same area as the old counties of Middlesex and Surrey from about the year 440 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, modern Canterbury), based on the Roman-era Civitas Cantiacum (which was home to four different tribes, none of which Caesar named).  After the Saxon revolt of the mid-450s led to the loss of its eastern half, the seat moved to Cair Dourbruf (Durobrivae Cantiacorum, modern Rochester).  This too fell to the Cantwara in 496.  This east-west division, which may have already dated back to imperial times, continued, at least in eccleiastical government.

Rhegin was based on the imperial-era Civitas Regnensium, with its seat likely at Cair Cei (Noviomagus Regnensium, modern Chichester), estimated to have begun around 477.  One of the shortest-lived of the 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 early 400s.  It fell to the Gewissae sometime between 600 and 610.

Cair Gwinntguic evolved out of the imperial Civitas Belgarum, with its political center at the former Venta Belgarum modern Winchester).  It fell to the Gewissae led by Cynric (Cunorix) in 552.  Later that year, Cynric went on to Cair Guallauc, the former Sorviodunum or Old Sarum (Salibury), and laid siege to it, ultimately putting its garrison to flight to hide in the Andredes Weald.

Britannia Prima

Venedotia (Middle Welsh: Guynet; Modern Welsh: Gwynedd) originally occupied the tribal lands of the Brithonic Ordovices along with those of the Gangani, an Irish tribe on the Llŷn Peninsula at the time of Claudius Ptolemy (c. 150 CE).  The north of what is now Wales was never divided into civitates but remained under direct military control.   It was founded in the early to mid 5th century, according to Welsh medieval legend by Cunedda Wledig ap Edern, a warlord of Manaw (Gododdin) who came with several sons and his retinue.

By the late 4th century, the Gangani relocated either back to Ireland or merged into their Deceangli cousins east of the Ordivices (both were related to the Concani of Munster 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, Gwynedd included approximately the territories of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire, Merionethshire, and Anglesey, then those of Denbigshire and Flintshire after it absorbed the former kingdom of Rhôs.  But it soon lost Rhôs and the rest of that later known as Gwynedd Is Conwy to the expanding kingdom of the Mercians, only to regain both during the Viking Wars when = Mercia and Northumbria were otherwise occupied.

After the successful rising against the Normans in 1136, Gwynedd annexed Ceredigion (the core part) into itself, leaving the rump of the former ‘Deheubarth’ (Dyfed and Ystrad Twyi) to its former ruling dynasty.

At certain times, Gwynedd found itself divided at the River Conwy, with Gwynedd Is Conwy to the east and Gwynedd Uwch Conwy to the west, usually when there was a succession dispute, or when the south was ascendant in Wales.  It also waxed and waned, ending the medieval period with several cantrefs taken from Powys as well as the former kingdom of Ceredigion (minus Ystrad Twyi).

It was the king of Gwynedd who ultimately came to be acknowledged as Princes of (all) Wales from 1200.  It finally fell to the English in 1283.  Of note here is the fact that the title ‘prince’ derives from the Latin ‘princeps’, a title born by the emperors of Rome and therefore originally designating a status higher than a mere king.

Rhôs, based on the territory of the Deceangli, occupied roughly the historic counties of Denbighshire (minus Powys Cadog) and Flintshire (minus the exclave 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 Mercia until the late 1100s, when Gynwedd recovered it and added it to its territory.  The independent petty kingdom’s best known ruler was Cuneglasus (Cynlas Goch ap Owain), whom Gildas condemned along with four others and referred to as “the charioteer of the Bear”.

In later medieval Wales, 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 figure Guorthegern (Vortigern), who was succeeded by his son Categirn, who fell fighting alongside his brother Vortimer at the Battle of Aylesford in 455.  Its initial seat was at Viroconium Cornoviorum (Cair Guricon, Wroexter), which was still thriving well into the Anglo-Saxon era when it became the center of the kingdom of the Wreocensaetas.  By that time, however, the ruling family of Powys had moved west to Mathafral and the eastern part of the kingdom had split off as Pengwern about 570.

The kingdom, which saw two campaigns by former general and current bishop Germanus of Auxerre, was initially based on the former Civitas Cornoviorum and soon expanded west to take in the upper Severn Valley and the adjacent highlands north and south.

At its greatest extent, the kingdom took in Cheshire, Shropshire, parts of Staffordshire along with 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 the last western three sections.  The kingdom was further reduced when the group of kingletdoms in the region Rwg Guoy a Habren split off about 800.

In 855, Rhowdri Mawr of Gwynedd, whose father Merfyn Frych had married Nest ferch Cadell, daughter of Cyngen ap Cadell of Powys, seized Powys upon the death of Cadell.  His three sons each inherited one of the kingdoms after his death.  Hywel Dda of ‘Deheubarth’ gained Gwynedd and seized Powys after their rulers died in a rebellion against the Englisc.

In 1063, Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, and Tostig Godwinson, Earl of Northumbria, installed Bleddyn ap Cynfyn as King of Powys and as co-ruler of Gwynedd along with his brother Rhiwallon.  Bleedyn’s descendants continued in Powys as the House of Mathrafal.

In 1160, Madog ap Maredudd died, with his son and heir Llywelyn killed soon after, and the kingdom was divided between his three sons, one nephew, and one half-brother.

Owain Brogyntyn inherited the cantref of Penllyn, which the ruler of Gwynedd forcibly annexed, with Owain kept in place as his vassal.

Owain ap Gruffydd formed the principality of Powys Ceiliog (later Powys Wenwynwyn, roughly Montgomeryshire) south of River Rhaeadr in 1166.  Gruffydd ap Madog formed the principality of Powys Fadog (roughly eastern Denbighshire) north of River Rhaeadr in 1187.  Powys Fadog fell to the English in 1277; Powys Wenwynwynin 1283.

Pengwern, whose kings naturally also traced their line to Guorthegern, split from Powys about the year 570, and at about the same time shifted their capital from Cair Guricon to ‘Llys Pengwern’, which some historians believe to have been at Shrewsbury and others at the former Deva Victrix (Cair Legion to the Brithons, Legacaestir to the Anglo-Saxons, Chester to the High Medieval English).  It took in all of Shropshire and adjacent sections of Staffordshire, Herefordshire, and, Worcestershire, for about three decades, then subdivided into three sub-kingdoms.

These subkingdoms were: Cair Luitcoyt, based at the former Letocetum (now Wall, Lichfield, Staffordshire); Cair Magnis, based at Magnae Dobunorum (now Kenchester, Herefordshire); and Cair Guricon, by then based at Din Guricon (The Wrekin), overlooking the former Virconium.  The overkingdom and its subkingdoms all fell to 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 the southernmost section of Powys within the borders of modern Wales.  The region broke away as several small kingdoms in about 800, corresponding roughly to modern southern Montgomeryshire and 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 his descendant Elystan (Aethelstan) Glodrydd.

Brycheiniog, established by Irish raiders of the Uí Liatháin as Garthmadrun in the late 5th century in about the same area as Breconshire.  Dyfed, now under a Brithonic dynasty, gained Brycheiniog by marriage in the early 7th century, though the latter regained its independence after Seisyll ap Clydog of Ceredigion conquered Ystrad Twyi in 730, cutting it off from the kingdom of Dyfed.  In 1045, Brychneiniog divided into the separate kingdoms of Selyf, Tewdos, and Talgarth, which were almost immediately (re)absorbed into ‘Deheubarth’ (Dyfed).  Between 1088 and 1095, the area was conquered by Bretons who came with the Norman invasion and made into the Lordship of Brecknock in 1093.  It later became Breconshire.

Ceredigion is alleged to have split off from Gwynedd in the 5th century in Welsh legend, but in fact seems to have always been its own.  Still, its royal line traced its origin to Ceretic ap Cunedda.  It occupied almost the 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 Cadell as its ruler.  When Cadell died in 911, Ceredigion (‘Seisyllwg’) split between his sons Clydog and Hywel Dda, who was already king of Dyfed.  In 920, Hywel Dda inherited the remainder when his brother Cloydog died; later historians created the neologism ‘Deheubarth’ for the new territory, though at the time it was likely known as Dyfed, or perhaps as ‘Dyfed and Ceredigion’.

After the recapture of ‘Deheubarth’ from the Normans in the successful rising of 1136, Gwynedd annexed Ceredigion proper, where it remained until the conquest by Edward I in 1283.

‘Seisyllwg’ is, as mentioned, a neologism for Ceredigion coined in the 12th century for the period after its territory expanded when its king Seisyll conquered Ystrad Twyi from Dyfed around 680.

Demetia (Welsh: Dyfed) was based on Civitas Demetarum, which had its seat at Moridunum (Carmarthen, Cair Merddyn to the Sub-Roman Brithons).  From the 4th century, probably in the time of the ‘Great Conspiracy’, it was ruled by an Irish dynasty, a branch of the Uí Liatháin, with many of the immigrants also from the Déisi.  During the time, it covered approximately Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, and Breconshire (the earlier Dyfed, Ystrad Twyi, and Brycheiniog).

In the late 5th century, Dyfed’s territory of Garthmadrun broke away under Brychan (Broccan), and became known as Brycheiniog.  About the beginning of the 6th century, the Irish dynasty was ousted by Agricola (Aircol, Aergol) Lawhir the Tribune (or ‘son of the Tribune’), whose son Vortiporius the Protector was castigated by Gildas.

In the early 7th century, Dyfed regained Brycheiniog, but this was offset in 730, when Seisyll of Ceredigion conquered and annexed Ysrad Twyi, blocking access.  Later, Hywel Dda, king of Dyfed and joint king of Ceredigion, became its king, merging the two realms together after inheriting his brother’s half of the other, into a kingdom dubbed ‘Deheubarth’ by later historians.  This lasted until the conquest by the Normans.  Most of it later became Pembrokeshire.

‘Deheubarth’ is a neologism for the union of the realms of Ceredigion (as the also neological ‘Seisyllwg’) and Dyfed, along with sometimes Brycheiniog and others under one king.  Before the collapse of Hen Gogledd, Welsh bards referred to the southern kingdoms collectively by this name, which literally means ‘right hand part’ (presumably facing west vis-à-vis the Anglo-Saxons of Lloegyr), but colloquoially in this context means ‘the South’.  After the conquest by Edward I of England, it became Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire.

Siluria (Common Brittonic: Guent; modern Welsh: Gwent) came into being in the early 5th century, based on Civitas Silurum, with its capital at Venta Silurum (Cair Guent, or Caerwent).  The former legionary base of Cair Legion-guar-Uisc (Caerleon) was another important city.  Its territory originally spread across roughly the same area as Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire, and western Herefordshire, where Welsh was a major language into the 19th century.

In 474, the kingdom of Ercing (Ergyng) in the later western Herefordshire broke away for a couple of centuries, but returned by 650.  In 470, 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 ap Ithel, though the two kingdoms were twice reunited for short periods in later centuries.

After the Norman Conquest of Wales, the kingdom was divided into five Marcher Lordships which were 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) in 474 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 Guent west of River Usk.  Its territory was roughly the same as Glamorganshire.  Glevis ap Solar made it independent in 470, but after his death in 480, it splintered into four kingletdoms.  A century afterward, all the royal lines died out and it fell back to Guent, but probably with some autonomy.  Under Rhys ap 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 modern times the capital of all Wales, where there had once been a Roman fort.  The kingdom was reunited with its parent twice for brief periods, both times under the rule of the king of Glywyssing as ‘Morgannwg’.

Morgannwg (Gwlad Morgan) existed in two 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 to 1074, 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 of Glamorgan.

Ynys Manaw, the Isle of Mann, originally had a Brithonic population and never suffered a Roman invasion.  Its royal line traced its ancestry back to Antonius Donatus Gregorius (Anwn Dynod) ap Magnus Maximus, thru his grandson Tutugual (Tudwal) ap Eidinet (Ednyfed).  It was conquered by Báetán mac Cairill of the Dál Fiatach in 577, by Áedán mac Gabráin of the Dál Riata in 582, and by Edwin of Deira in 626.  In 750, Elidyr ap Sandde moved the exiled royal house of Argoed from Powys, and from there later came the ‘House of Manaw’ c. 825, from which came in Gwynedd the ‘House of Aberffraw’ and in Ceredigion the ‘House of Dinefwr’.

The island kingdom suffered Viking raids in the first half of the 9th century, possibly what instigated Mermin (Merfyn) Frych ap Gwriad to relocate to Gwynedd with his family (including son the later Rhodri Mawr).  In 849, Gall-Goídil settlers began arriving after it was taken into the Norse Kingdom of the Isles, then subordinate to the Norse Kingdom of Dublin.  From 990 to 1079, the Isles were under the Jarldom of Orkney, after which Godred Crovan, a scion of the Uí Ímair, established the independent Kingdom of the Mann and the Isles, with Ynys Manaw (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 kingdom split 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 years later, in 577, the Brithons were badly defeated by the Gewissae at the Battle of Deorham, losing all three kings, whose realms then fell.

Dumnonia (Common Brittonic: Duvnent; Modern Welsh: Dyfneint; Modern Cornish: Dewnans; modern Breton: Devnent; Anglo-Saxon: West Weahlas) seems to have grown organically out of Civitas Dumnnoniorum, initially keeping the same capital, the Roman-built Isca Dumnoniorum, in Sub-Roman known to the Brithons as Cair Uisc and to the Saxons as Escanceaster.  By most accounts, it included the former Civitas Durotrigum and the former Civitas Lendienensis Durotrigum as well by the early years of the 5th century, and was for decades, maybe two centuries or more, one of the largest kingdoms in the Sub-Roman south.

According to 19th century 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 account mirrors the 899 will of Alfred the Great, in which he referred to the people of Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall as being ‘the Welsh kind’ (meaning the ‘West Weahlas’), even at that late date.

Regarding the last of these territories, however, given how exponentially bigger and much wilder Selwood Forest was in antiquity compared to the 1800s, Mr. Lappenberg’s inclusion 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 barrier to later be the dividing line between east Wessex and west Wessex.  Thus, it served as a hindrance to the westward advance of the Gewissae (the West Seax), this being true even with the Roman roads laid through. 

By contrast, the Severn Sea and Oceanus Britannicus made communication and trade with the Silures and Demetae of the later southern Wales and with tribes in Armorica, much easier.  Which lends credibility to the suggestion that the kingdom of Dumnonia straddled the Oceanus Britannicus (now known as the English Channel), just as the Irish kingdom of Dal Riata straddled the North Channel’s Sea of Moyle.  That hypothesis carries much more weight in Breton and French circles than in those of the British Isles.

Besides the former civitas 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 in the mid-5th century.

First, there is ‘Cadbury Castle’ in South Cadbury, Somerset, the site of an Iron Age fort and siege and battle during the Roman conquest turned into the largest fort of its period in the Sub-Roman era, at least twice the size of any other in the Isles.  Its great hall alone was 66 feet by 33 feet.  Though there seems to have been some provision for domesticity, the main nature of the settlement of the settlement appears to have been military, though shards of pottery show trade links to the eastern Mediterranean region.  It could, perhaps, be the ‘Cellwig’ given by the earliest Welsh sources as base of operations of of ‘Arthur the Solder’.

Established between 450 and 470, this site was completely abandoned around 580, shortly after Ceawlin son of Cynric and Cuthwine son of Ceawlin of the Gewissae smashed the armies of Farinmail of Cair-Baddan, Condidan of Cair-Ceri, and Conmail of Cair-Gloui at the Battle of Dyrham and took their kingdoms (577), cutting off the land connection between the “West Weahlas” and the “North Weahlas”.

Second, there are the finds made at Tintagel (from ‘Din Tagell’ in Common Brittonic) Castle in Cornwall of an extensive Sub-Roman site beneath that built atop it in 1233 by Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall and Rex Romanorum (‘King of the Romans’; meaning, elected heir apparent to the Imperator Romanorum, ‘Emperor of the Romans’).  Archaeologists there found a royal palace and commercial center (Tintagel is on the Severn Sea) surpassing any other such site from the era in size and opulence.

Finds demonstrate extensive trade with Aquitania in Gallia, Galaecia and Baetica in Hispania, Carthage in Africa, Aegean Greece, Phocaea in eastern Anatolia, and Cilicia in southeastern Anatolia.  In all, there were at least a hundred buildings connected to the palace.  If Cadbury Castle is ‘Celliwig’, then this site is its counterpart ‘Camelot’ (admittedly a complete fiction invented by Chrétien de Troyes), so to speak.

The whole of this site, first established around 450, was entirely abandoned abruptly in about 650, though there have been no reports of signs of attack or hostile destruction.  The inhabitants just seem to have left.

(The archaeological findings at these two sites indicates either (1) that the kingdom of Dumnonia was advanced and prosperous enough to have not only a sumptuous political and commercial capital but a well-fortified and appointed military base with a large garrison near its primary enemy, or (2) that these two centers represent separate kingdoms, with the one in the west being capital of the Dumnonii and the one in the east (Cadbury Castle) being the capital of the (re)unified Durotriges tribe.  Most historical evidence indicates the former.)

If there were subkingdoms, Dumononia would have been divided into Duvnent proper (Civitas Dumnoniorum), Durngueis (Civitas Durotrigum), and Lindinis (Civitas Lendienensis Durotrigum), with the last of these becoming Glastening (or Glastenion) in mid-6th century.

The Gewissae began to invade Dumnonia in the mid-7th century.  Glastenion fell in 658 and Durngueis in 661.  These became lands of the Sumersaetas and the Thornsaetas, respectively, joining the Wiltsaetas (who were mostly confined to Wilton, five miles west of Old Sarum).

In 700, St. Aldhelm makes the first known mention of Cerniu (as “Cornubia”) as an individual entity, albeit still part of Duvnent (“Dumnonia”).

Many have posited that the name ‘Purocoronavis’ listed on the circa 700 CE itinerary of the nameless monk who wrote the Ravenna Cosmography proves the existence of a separate tribe in the West Country called the ‘Cornovii’.  However, if ‘Purocoronavis’ is a misprint for Durocornovium, that is a town at the junction of roads to Corinium Dobunorum (Circencester), Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), and Venta Belgarum (Winchester).  Which is in the northeastern section of Wiltshire, nowhere near Cornwall.

In 705, the See of Canterbury established the Diocese of Sherbourne to cover the Sumersaetas, the Dorsaetas (same as Thornsaetas), and the Defnas (here meaning the Saxons of East Devon) as well as the ‘West Wealhas’ (Brithons of free Devon and Cornwall), with the afore-mentioned St. Aldhelm as bishop.

In 722, the Gewissae lost three major battles against the ‘West Weahlas’ of Dumnonia and were forced to retreat.  In 816, Cair Uisc (Escanceaster to the Saxons), fell to the West Seax along with Duvnent between River Exe and River Tamar (according to Jenkins’ Civil and Ecclesiastical History of the City of Exeter and Its Environs, 1841).  Cerniu remained under its own rulers until after the Norman Conquest, though eventually as a client kingdom, with the border fixed by treaty at River Tamar in 936.

After his death in 899, 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 of the 5th century, Armorica took up the western half of Provincia Lugdunensis III, the capital of which was Turonum (Tours).

The first major migration of Brithons into Armorica, the peninsula between Normandy and Aquitaine in the northwest of France, may date back to the aftermath of the restoration of order in 368 ending the Great Conspiracy of 367 in Britannia.  Some Breton and French historians have conjectured that Brithonic warriors were imported to help regular soldiers guard against raids by Saxons and Frisians from the sea.  Also, Magnus Maximus may have left large detachments in the region circa 383.  Aside from at least two major waves that could be connected to seekers of escape from Saxons, most Brithons probably arrived relocating in the normal course of life.

Armorica became known as Britannia Minor, at least to contemporary historians (Procopious of Caesarea, Marius Aventicensis, Venantius Fortunatus, Gregory of Tours, etc.) as early as the 6th century.  Its inhabitants and the Insular Celts called it Letau or Letha (‘Bretain Letha’ in the Irish Lebor Bretnach, the Irish version of Historia Brittonum).

Under the Imperium Romanum, ‘Lower Brittany’ (the western part of the peninsula) was occupied by three tribes organized into local civitates: Civitas Curiosilitum, Civitas Osismorum, and Civitas Venetorum.

The two former civitates of ‘Upper Brittany’, confirmed as part of Brittany in the 851 Treaty of Angers, were: Civitas Redonum and Civitas Namnetum, along with Pagus Ratiatensis of Civitas Pictonum.

In 867, the boundaries of Brittany were further extended to include Cotenin (Civitas Unellorum) and Avranchin (Civitas Abrincatuorum) in the Treaty of Compiègne, but these territories were lost to the Normans during the Viking occupation in the 19th century.

Later, the designations Lower Brittany and Upper Brittany designated the major language spoken in the division, P-Celtic Breton in western Lower Brittany and Romance-based Gallo in eastern Upper Brittany; this demarcation has 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 I believe is more likely a surviving dialect of Continental Gaulish with a slight overlay of Brithonic.

The three civitates of ‘Lower Brittany’ constituted the Sub-Roman kingdoms of, respectively, Domnonea, Kernev, and Wened, though no outside source mentions any of the kingdoms by those names until the 9th century.

Domnonea (Domnonée, Dumnonia), founded according to legend by Riwal Mawr Marzhou from Gwynedd, was based on Civitas Curiosilitum, with its capital at Fanum Marti (modern Corseul).

Kernev (Cornouaille, Cornubia), founded according to legend by Gradlon Mawr, was based on Civitas Osismorum, 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 on Civitas Venetorum, with its capital at Darioritum (modern Vannes).

Throughout the 6th century, the inhabitants were still distinguishable as either immigrant Brithons (Britanni) or indigenous Gauls (Armoricani).

After Charlemagne became ruler of all the Frankish Empire in 771, one of his first acts was to appoint Roland (yes, that Roland) as Duke of Maine and Prefect of the Breton March, comprised of Nantais and Rennais.

Kingdom of Letau

From the Early Middle Ages through to the 12th century, the region now known in Latin as Britannia Minor, to the French as Bretaigne, in English as Brittany, in Breton as Briezh, and in Gallo as Bertaeyn was called Letau by its inhabitants, with speakers of Cornish, Welsh, Cumbric, and Irish using variations of that same name.

In 825, Letau, which had never been under Frankish domination, won recognition of its independence from Louis the Pious, Imperator Romanorum, who nevertheless appointed Nominoe, Count of Vannes, as his Missus Imperatoris in 831.

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 to recognize Nominoe as sovereign Duke of Brittany.  The country at this time was composed of Domnonea, Kernev, and Wened, known to the French as Domnonée, Cornouaille, and Vannetais.

In the 851 Treaty of Angers, Letau gained Nantais (Civitas Namnetum, capital: Condevincum, modern Nantes), Rennais (Civitas Redonum, capital: Condate, modern Rennes), and Retense (Pagus Ratiatensis of Civitas Pictonum, seat at Ratiate, modern Rezé).  Retense, incorporated into Nantais as Pays de Retz, was a point of contention between Brittany and Anjou for centuries.  Nominoe died the same year, and his son Erispoe became King of Letau.

In 856, Charles the Bald of Francia Occidentalis granted territory in the Duchy of Maine (Civitas Cenomanorum) “as far as the road from Paris to Tours” to Erispoe, King of Letau, to rule as duke after the betrothal of Erispoe’s daughter to his son Louis the Stammerer, who was already established as Duke of Le Mans.  But the grant was revoked the next year when Erispoe was assassinated.

In the 867 Treaty of Compiègne, Letau gained Cotenin (Civitas Unellorum) and Avranchin (Civitas Abrincatuorum).

The last King of Letau died in 907, and his disputed successor ruled as Prince rather than King until he was killed fighting Vikings in 913, the latter then occupying the country until 939.

‘Kingdom of Blois’

An interpolation by 12th century Benedictine Chronicler Jean de Marmoutier into Chronica de gestis consulum Andegavorum (Chronicles of the Deeds of the Consuls of Anjou) entitled Liber de compositione castri Ambaziae (Book of the composition of Castrum Blesense) relates that in 410 a Britto (Latin for ‘Briton’ singular) from Armorica named Ivomad established a kingdom in Gallia with its seat at Castrum Blesense in Civitas Carnutum.  Four of the five redactions recount that he did so after expelling the consul of Autricum Carnutum (former center of the druids in Gallia, capital of Civitas Carnutum, modern Chartres, home to Our Lady of the Underground), who is either Boson the Frank or Odo the Frank depending on which of the different redactions one is reading.  One of these redactions, however, indicates that rather than conquest, Ivomad and his thousand Brittones settled as foederati invited by consul Boson.

Castrum Blesense fell to Clovis I and the Franks in 491, with its surviving garrison escaping to Armorica.

In the Middle Ages, Castrum Blesense became the city of Blois, seat of the County of Blois.

Britonia in Galicia

In the first half of the 6th century, Romano-Brithonic exiles from Armorica and Britannia, established a colony on the north shore of the Suevi Kingdom of Galicia, in what had been Conventus Lucensis of Provincia Hispaniae Gallaeciae, where the natives 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 their community was in the city called Britonia, though the community spread across northern Gallaecia.  The city of Britonia lay in the lands of the Arrotrebae, most widely believed to have been at the site of the current parish and village of (Santa María de) Bretoña, (municipality of) Pastoriza, (province of) Lugo, (autonomous region of) Galicia.

At the First Council of Lugo in 569, it became the see of a diocese catering to the immigrant Brithons, with Maximus Monastery that later grew into the Basílica de San Martiño de Mondoñedo in Foz, Lugo, Galicia.  Their unique Celtic Rite, brought from Britannia and/or Armorica, was recognized at the council.  The first Bishop of Britonia was Mailoc, and their diocese also called the Ecclesia Britoniensis in Latin.

The Visigoths conquered the Suevi in 585, and in 633 suppressed the Rite of Britonia in favor of the Visigothic (later Mozarabic) Rite.  The city of Britonia was sacked by the invading Moors in 716, but the diocese 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 was erected to replace the Diocese of Britonia.  For at least a century afterward, the incumbent of this new diocese was known as the ‘Bishop of Britonia’.  Today it is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol.

As late as 1233, a Spanish document mentions an estate in Castro de Rey, Lugo, belonging “to those men called Bretons”.

High Medieval (1000-1300) Realms of the Brithons

There are three which definitely fit the bill, ones that grew out from smaller realms founded in the Sub-Roman/Early Medieval period, two of which were in the same country occupying almost the same territory.

Duchy of Bretaigne (Briezh, Bertaeyn)

Bretaigne is the Old French word, which I use to avoid favoring either of the two languages indigenous to the country of Brittany, those being Breizh in Breton and Bertaeyn in Gallo.

Alan Barbecorte, grandson of Alan the Great, was elected Duke of Bretaigne in 938, ruler of a realm reduced by the loss of Avranchin and Cotentin.  In 942, Duke Alan revoked claims to Avranchin, Cotentin, and Maine, and did homage to Louis IV, King of Francia Occidentalis, as his sovereign.

With the Duchy of Bretaigne now part of the Kingdom of France, it divided 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), and Cornouaille (Bro-Gernev), the first five of these approximating the former Domnonea.  The boundaries of these were coextensive 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 until the 16th century, and even then was allowed to keep its own parlement and many of its local laws, until the French Revolution, when its distinctive status was abolished.  That was somewhat ironic, since the lead political group at the time was the Jacobin Club, originally founded as Club Breton, organized by delegates from Bretagne to the National Convention.

* * * * *

In 1941, the Nazi-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 the region of Anger, former capital of the province of Anjou.  This action was reaffirmed by President de Gaulle (by his lack of reversal) after the Liberation, and by every government of France since, despite the outcry from the people of Bretagne and of Nantais.

‘Kingdom of the Brets and Scots’

In 1124, David mac Maol Choluim, Prince of the Cumbrians and Lord of the Merse, became King of Alba.  In one of his first major acts, he codified the laws of the kingdom as the Leges inter Brettos et Scottos, or ‘Laws of the Brets and Scots’.  These remained until 1305, when Edward I of England abolished them at the end of the First Scottish War of Independence.

Though never used publicly, the full official title of the kings in Scotland once this code was established was ‘Rex Brettorum et Scottorum’, at least on one royal seal I have seen a photo of (one of the Alexanders, I believe).

Principality of Cymru

In 1055, Gryffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Gwynedd and Powys, conquered ‘Deheubarth’, following that in 1058 by conquering Glevissig and Guent, merging them once again as Morgannwg.  By this, he became King of all Cymru (Wales), the only one, although he did not rule them as one kingdom but as their separate parts.  At his death in 1063, the realm disintegrated back into its different kingdoms.

At the Council of Aberdyfi in 1216, Llywelyn Fawr ab Iorwerth, King of Gwynedd (which included the northern half of Ceredigion and all of Powys Wenwynwyn) was recognized by the lesser lords in free Cymru as their supreme overlord with the title Prince of 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 in 1283, followed by the annexation of the country to the Kingdom of England as laid out in the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.

The heir to the throne of England became the Prince of Wales beginning in 1301, and that remains the case until today.  Actual governance was by the prince’s advisory council sitting in London, then in Ludlow, Shropshire.  That council was radically redesigned in 1472 as the Council of Wales and the Marches.  In 1536, the Principality of Wales and the Welsh March were merged into one.  The Council was abolished by the Roundhead Parliament in 1641, then revived at the Restoration 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 fit here are not Brithonic realms as realms of Brithons but are rather realms on the island of Great Britain, Britannia Major, ruled by a dynasty of ultimately Brithonic origin.

Breton-descended Stewart/Stuart and the Kingdom of Scots

In 1315, Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, married Marjorie Bruce, eldest daughter of Robert I the Bruce, King of Scots.  Besides being High Steward and a fairly decent general, Walter was the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Alan, hereditary Dapifer of the Archbishop of Dol-de-Bretagne, the top bishop in Brittany.  His cousins there still held the position of dapifer to the archbishop, and his family were also cousins of the FitzAlans, Earls of Arundel.

His and Marjorie’s son became Robert II Stewart, King of Scots, upon the death of David II Bruce in 1371.  From then until 1603, the Stewarts of Breton descent ruled the Kingdom of Scots (in one case, a queen) from Edinburgh, with the last two monarchs from this period altering the spelling of their surname to Stuart: Robert II, Robert III (born John), James I, James II, James III, James IV, James V, Mary I, and James VI.

Welsh-origin Tudors and the Kingdom of England

Though the the reigns of this dynasty mostly lay in the Early Modern period, it began in the final years of the Late Medieval period.

In 1215, Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig became Seneschal of Gwynedd to Llywelyn Fawr ab Iorwerth, Prince of Cymru, and later to his son Dafydd.  He married Gwenllian, daughter of Rhys ap Gruffydd, king of ‘Deheubarth’.  His great-great-great-great-grandson, Owen Tudor of the Tudurs of Penmynydd married Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V of England from the House of Lancaster and mother of the future Henry VI.

Owen’s son Edmund became Earl of Richmond, a title whose first holders were members Breton ducal family and to which his son Henry later succeeded.  After the Lancasters found themselves on the losing side in the War of the Roses, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, went into exile in Brittany along with his family.  In the summer of 1485, Henry landed in Wales with a small army of French and Scots, gathered Welsh supporters, and marched into England to defeat Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, where Henry’s staunchest Welsh supporter, Rhys ap Thomas, dispatched the last monarch of the House of York.

After his coronation, when he became the first ruler of Brithonic descent to rule what had once been Roman Britannia, Henry VII followed through with his promise to marry 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) ruled England and Ireland after him until the death of Elizabeth in 1603.

Early Modern (1500-1800) Realms of the Brithons

These two are really continuations of the two previous realms, but in radically different forms.

Stuart Kingdom of England and Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland

In 1603 when Queen Elizabeth I of England died without issue, the Stuarts becames monarchs of England by virtue of James IV Stewart of Scots having married Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VII.  Their eldest surviving daughter was Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who after she was overthrown by the Confederate Lords in 1567 fled to England only to become involved 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 to communicate with James VI of Scots, only surviving son of headless Mary, regarding his future accession, which was proclaimed in London upon Elizabeth’s death.  Thus did the Breton-origin House of Stuart succeed the Welsh-origin House of Tudor as rulers of the greater part of what was once Roman Britannia.

From 1603 to 1707 (except for the Interregnum of the Commonwealth 1649-1660), six members of the House of Stuart ruled the Kingdom of England and Scotland* and the Kingdom of Ireland: James I & VI, Charles I, Charles II, James II & VII, Mary II (Orange-Nassau née Stuart), and Anne, the last monarch of England and Scotland and of Ireland.

(*The title used for the monarch in Scotland was King or Queen of Scots throughout this period, until the Union of Parliaments.)

Stuart Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland

From the Union of Parliaments in 1707 until her death in 1714, Anne (Oldenberg née Stuart) ruled as Queen of Great Britain and Queen of Ireland, and after her death was succeeded by George Welf of Hanover, the first in a line of German monarchs and monarchs of German descent that has ruled the kingdoms (Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland, 1707-1800; Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 1800-1921; Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1921-present) until the present day.