Celtic Kingdoms of the British Isles

Pengwern (Eastern Powys)
Incorporating Caer Guricon, Caer Luit Coyt, & Caer Magnis

Located on the eastern border of Powys, Pengwern stretched deep into the Midlands. For much of its existence it was part of Powys being indivisible from it and bearing the same name as it. It apparently remained so until the last quarter of the sixth century (although some opinion maintains that it was always a constituent territory of Powys). During at least some of that time one of its chief cities (and possible capital) was probably Caer Guricon (the former tribal capital of the Cornovii tribe, Roman Viroconium, modern Wroxeter). There is evidence to suggest the abandonment of Viroconium around 520, perhaps in exchange for a more defendable location.

While the territory is usually known as Pengwern, it is uncertain whether this name was applied to all of it, being as it was the name of just one fort. The kingdom may just as well have been named after its last ruling dynasty, the Dogfeilion kings. However, Pengwern would have been a powerful name: 'gwern' would have been pronounced 'wern' by the Romans, and would have been spelled 'vern' by them if it had been written down (unlikely, as it was local slang usage). The river that runs through the area, the Sabrina (modern Severn), probably had the letter 'b' mangled into a 'v' and then a 'w' by the local Cornovii/Gwynedd Britons. Then they dropped the 'Se' from the front of Severn, turning Severn into 'Vern', which they pronounced 'Wern', and then altered later into 'Gwern' as they came to do with any word beginning in 'w'. Also note that the original British name for the Severn was Habren - the 's' at the start was a Roman addition - so this would explain how the 's' was removed from the name - to the Britons it had not been there in the first place. That sort of mixed progression would occur only at places inhabited by Romans in numbers that were sufficient enough to influence the name. Such a concentration of Romans would have to be at the town of Viroconium. Then when the locals in that town fled up the river to Pengwern, they took their odd pronunciation with them (not even knowing that wern/gwern was the same word as Hefren). Pen means 'head' or 'source', so the local name became Pengwern, headwaters of the Severn, a strong and commanding name. An alternative explanation has been provided by Mak Wilson, who still gives 'pen' as 'head', but provides 'gwern' as the meaning of 'alder swamp'. This does though seem to rob the kingdom of some of the power and glory surrounding its name.

Although its exact origins cannot be proven, Pengwern as an independent kingdom, or at least semi-autonomous subdivision of Powys, does appear to have been formed only in the sixth century, well after the collapse of the Post-Roman central administration. It contained all of Powys' eastern territories. By AD 600 it seems to have been made up of three sub-kingdoms based on the cities of Caer Luit Coyt (now known as Wall, in Lichfield), Caer Magnis, and Caer Guricon (the probable early capital of Powys) and the first two had their own sub-kings. Originally, these would have been tributary to Powys, and then subsequently to the ruler of Pengwern itself.

Caer Luit Coyt (probably a later misspelling of the more valid Caer Luit Coit/Coed or Luitcoit) came from the Latin Lutocetum. Two interpretations of the name are possible, although they are very close in meaning anyway. The first translates it as 'half-wooded' (in essence, lighty-wooded). In the proto-Celtic word lists, 'letos' is a combining form and can be taken to mean 'half-', while 'coit/coed' means 'wood' or 'forest'. The second takes an alternative meaning from 'letos' to produce 'breadth, width, broadness' in the sense of a wide forest, the outcome being that the region was not half-forested but heavily forested. The modern name of this location, Wall, is either a descendant of the Old English 'weald', meaning a wood or forest, or 'wealas', meaning 'Welsh'. It could be both, with the locals making a pun of it at the expense of any native Britons living there.

The first ruler was a son of Brochfael Ysgythrog of Powys, the probable defender of Caer Legion (Chester) around 613, so it seems the division was based upon the traditional Celtic practice of providing an inheritance for all sons, not just the eldest. Then, according to what little source material remains, in the early seventh century Morfael ap Glast, king of Glastenning, secured the eastern capital of Caer Luit Coyt during his lifetime. His younger brother secured the remainder of the territory upon the death of their father. The capital was moved to Llys Pengwern (the 'court of Pengwern'), perhaps for security reasons - giving the territory its name and perhaps defining any independent existence it may have had. The territory survived as a bulwark against Anglian expansion in the Midlands until the mid-seventh century.

(Information by Peter Kessler and Edward Dawson, with additional information by Mak Wilson, from The Landscape of King Arthur, Geoffrey Ashe, from Roman Britain: A New History, Guy de la Bédoyère, from History of the Kings of Britain, Geoffrey of Monmouth, from the Historia Brittonum (The History of the Britons), Nennius, from De Excidio Brittaniae et Conquestu (On the Ruin of Britain), Gildas (both J A Giles, Ed & Trans, 1841, published as part of Six Old English Chronicles (Henry G Bohn, London, 1848)), from Marwnad Cynddylan (The Lament for Cynddylan), from the Annales Cambriae, James Ingram (taken from the Harleian manuscript, the earliest surviving version, London, Everyman Press, 1912), and from External Link: English Heritage.)

c.570 - 613

First 'king'. Sons of Brochfael Ysgythrog of Powys.

from 577

Pengwern's southern border comes under some pressure from the Hwicce, as the British kingdoms based around Caer Baddan, Caer Ceri and Caer Gloui fall. The defeat is a disaster for all Britons of the west of the country, as it also divides Pengwern and Gwent from Dumnonia and Caer Celemion.

584

Viroconium is sacked by the West Seaxe. The kingdom has very likely already relocated its capital before this event.

The old Roman fort at Viroconium, one of their largest settlements, was substantially and skilfully rebuilt in timber between about 530-570, and then mostly dismantled by 600

603

Following a successful first meeting between the Roman Church based at Canterbury and the Celtic Church (the descendant of the former British Church of the Roman period), a second meeting is quickly arranged. This takes place at Abberley in Worcestershire, probably close to the border between the Hwicce and Pengwern. It is attended by seven bishops of the Celtic Church, along with many learned monks, mainly from Bangor-is-Coed (in Pengwern). The Britons are not impressed with Augustine's imperious manner and the meeting ends in disappointment for the Roman envoy.

c.612

This point marks the first appearance of the Dogfeilion of Gwynedd in Powys and Pengwern, although according to Edward Dawson, Pengwern remains part of Powys, and the courts of Pengwern and Caer Luit Coyt (sometimes expressed as Luitcoyt) are Powysian courts. Given Welsh emphasis on ancestry to qualify for a throne, it seems likely that a Dogfeilion leader (probably Cyndrwyn Glas) had married a daughter of the king of Powys, qualifying his descendants to govern Powys by the rules of descent of Gwynedd (which had been inherited from their ancestors, the Pictish Venicones). Romans and Romano-British use primogeniture, but the Pictish rules are that any descendant, regardless of the form of that descent, is qualified to inherit (meaning that even bastard sons of wayward daughters can show up and claim a piece of a territory or even kingship). The fact that the Dogfeilion are accepted as rulers of Powys (and the part of Powys that is known as Pengwern) is very telling. There has to be a valid claim of descent.

c.612

King of Caer Luit Coyt (Eastern Pengwern) & Glastenning.

613?

In one of the bloodiest and hardest fought battles of its time, several British kings form a coalition to halt Æthelfrith of Bernicia at the Battle of Caer Legion (Chester). Cearl of the Mercians could also be involved on the British side (according to scholarly theory). Iago of Gwynedd and Selyf of Powys are both killed, and the battle is a disastrous British defeat. However, Æthelfrith does not occupy the territory around Chester. Just who does is unknown, and the entire history of this region from the post-Roman period to the tenth century is extremely sketchy. One possibility is that the line of the River Dee is successfully defended by the people living just to the west of it - the Dogfeilion - who are able to claim great prestige from being the victorious defenders of the western Britons. Another possibility is that groups of Angles not under Bernicia's control settle the region to the east of the Dee, and are later subsumed within Mercia.

Bledric ap Custennin, king of Dumnonia, dies at the Battle of Bangor-is-Coed, which follows very soon afterwards. A certain Brochfael is named as the commander of Caer Legion at this time, and may be one of the sons of Powys' Brochfael, also the theoretical first king of Pengwern named above. After this, the Dogfeilion kings appear to move in on Pengwern (perhaps due to their theoretical defence of the Dee). The monks of Bangor-is-Coed are present at the battle to pray for divine support, but they too are slaughtered (the act is seen as divine retribution for their refusal to help evangelise the English in 603 - and see one of Geoffrey of Monmouth's more accurate entries about this campaign via the feature link).

613? - c.620?

King of Pengwern. Perhaps also the ruler of Glastenning?

613?

Cyndrwyn Fawr would seem to be the Cyndrwyn Glas of Dogfeilion. 'Glas' means 'blue', a typical Welsh naming pun for a redhead. Is this pun the origin of the name Glastenning, a sub-kingdom already held by Cyndrwyn? 'Fawr' means 'great' in Brythonic/Welsh, suggesting that, if it is indeed Cyndrwyn Glas, then he has built a reputation for himself (again, perhaps through defending the Dee). Could he also be Cyndrwyn the Stubborn of South Powys?

? - 613 or c.620

King of Caer Magnis. Brother of Cyndrwyn Fawr?

617

The fall of Elmet to the Bernicians of Edwin suddenly exposes the entire length of the northern border of both Pengwern and Mercia, making them likely next targets in the aggressive policy of Northumbrian expansion.

c.620 - 656

Brother of Morfael ap Glast? Mentioned 642.

654/655

Pengwern's staunch ally, Penda of Mercia, defeats the East Engle at Blytheburgh, but is later killed by Oswiu of Northumbria at the Battle of Winwaed. Northern Mercia is annexed by Northumbria, leaving Pengwern vulnerable on the front line against an aggressive Anglian kingdom./p>

The British fort at Caer Luit Coyt (Wall by Lichfield in modern Staffordshire) had been an important staging point on Watling Street, the Roman military road into North Wales, and was inherited and used as a regional capital by the Romano-Britons

656

Son. May not have ruled.

656

Overrun by Oswiu of Northumbria, the royal family is destroyed and the kingdom terminated. Apparently this battle, at or near Caer Luit Coyt (Lichfield), is fought by Cynddylan as king of Powys (and potential overlord of Pengwern), although he and his retinue of seven hundred warriors is defeated. Relatives of the royal family survive now only in Dogfeilion itself, it having also lost Glastenning and perhaps Powys recently.

The disastrous loss of Pengwern further exposes the border of Gwent and fully exposes Powys for perhaps the first time. Saxons migrate into the territory from the south to form the minor kingdoms of the Wrocenset (based around Caer Guricon) and Magonset (based around Caer Magnis). These in turn are absorbed by Mercia by the eighth century, which also quickly adopts Caer Luit Coyt as its original bishopric of Lichfield in 669.