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Cunedda

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William Rees : The historical Atlas of Wales

PART III. — THE DARK AGES. 

PLATE 1

THE DARK AGE IN WALES—EARLY DYNASTIES

"The Roman withdrawal from Britain, about A.D. 410, was not a formal surrender of the government of the province as is commonly thought. Rather was it that in that year the Roman emperor of the west, in response to appeals from Britain for the return of the troops to protect them from their barbarie invaders, urged his Romano-British subjects there to organize their own defence. The withdrawal of the garrisons from Britain had been regarded at first as only a temporary measure, but with the collapse of the frontiers on the Rhine and the Danube, the forces were never able to return. The Roman provincials in Britain, however, continued to await the reestablishment of direct contact with the empire, and for a considerable time the Government continued to function through its officials but, as conditions deteriorated with the devastation of the province and the spread of famine and pestilence, ordered rule could survive only in certain localities, and any attempt at centralization had to be abandoned. The walled towns offered some local defence but the rural dwellers were very much at the mercy of the roaming bands who had never ceased to harass the province since the later stages of Roman rule.

Of the time when the Angles and Saxons first commenced to settle in south and east Britain, there is no certain knowledge. Such evidence as exists seems to point to a long period of merciless raiding by numerous war bands before settlement was attempted. The monk, Gildas, himself a Roman provincial, writing about A.D. 600, states: The barbarians drive us on to the sea and the sea drives us back on the barbarian.' The Romano-British civilization built up by Rome perished in Britain in those days, and only by long and painful process was the native civilization to arise both in the Saxon east and in the Celtic west.

Of the western partsn of Britain after the Roman downfall, i.e. in the former military zone of upper Britain (Prydyn as it was called by the Welsh), the picture is also incomplete, but it is clear that there was widespread settlement of Irish tribes especially in west and north Wales. Later, as Wales emerges from the mists which enshroud the whole of the history of this post-Roman period, varions kingdoms gradually appear, with their separate rulers, and we wonder whence came thèse kings where none had existed under Roman rule.

From tradition - which cornes down to us in written form only from about the ninth century and, therefore, long after the event it chronicles - we are told that in the early fifth century a certain Cunedda and his eight sons -Osmael, Rumanus, Dunawd, Ceredig, Aflog, Einion Girth, Dogfael, and Edern - came from Manaw of the Gododdin in southern Scotland to North Wales, there to conquer the northern and western parts of Wales, subjecting to their rule the Irish settlers and imposing on them the Welsh (or Brythonic) dialect of the Celtic language which thus became the dominant longue of those parts of Wales.

Cunedda is described in these Welsh sources as Gwledig, which seems to be equivalent to the Latin title, Dux Britannianim. It is noteworthy that certain of the sons bear Roman names and, from this and other indications, it may be deduced that Cunedda, as a Romanized head of a clan from the frontier regions of the Wall (Welsh, gwal), had been entrusted by the Romans with authority possibly for the defence of the northern frontier or even of the entire province of Prydyn in the north-west, and, by virtue of this authority, he may have assumed power after the Roman withdrawal, ultimately to set himself up as ruler. Though the story of his conquests in Wales rests on no sure foundation, it is significant that, before many centuries, the regions claimed to have been conquered are found to bear the names of the sons of Cunedda, this in accordance with the Celtic practice of dividing the inheritance. Thus Rhufoniog was the land of Rumanus, Dunoding - the tribal territory of Dunawd or Donatus, Dogfeiling that of Dogfael, Ceredigion of Ceredig, Edeyrnion of Edern or Eternus. Osmael gives his name to Osmaeliaun, a district in Anglesey. The share of the eldest son, Tybion, who had died before the invasion, passed to his son, Meriaun or Meirion, who gave his name to Meirionydd.

These are amongst the oldest of our regional names in Wales, and, by their existence, they lend support to the story that Cunedda in the fifth century gave to Wales one of its most important dynasties. We know that in the following century Maelgwn, the great-grandson of Cunedda, occupied the throne of Gwynedd until A.D. 547, when he died of the yellow plague and the throne descended to members of the dynasty of Cunedda in succession.

In the remainder of Wales, other dynasties took their rise after the Roman withdrawal, doubtless profiting from the prevailing lack of governance to set themselves up as kings. In Demetia (Dyfed), which offered easy access from Ireland, Irish tribes with their rulers settled in considerable numbers and Gildas in the sixth century speaks of an early king, Voteporix, as ruler of Dyfed in his day. A ruler of Irish descent, Brychan, acquired the throne of Brycheiniog by the marriage of his father with the local heiress. Of Glywys, the ruler of Glywysing, the early name for Glamorgan, we know little, though his rule extended over an area greater than the modem county of that name. Plate 17 should be read in conjunction with Plate 22, which together illustrate the rise of early Wales in this 'dark' age".

*****

Jean-Claude EVEN

Dessin extrait de William REES : The Historical Atlas of Wales. 1951-1972. plate 17. 

Couleurs ajoutées par JC Even

Jean-Claude EVEN

Dessin extrait de William REES : The Historical Atlas of Wales. 1951-1972. plate 17. Détail.

Bibliographie

* William REES : An Historical Atlas of Wales. Faber & Faber Ltd. London. 1951. Edition 1972.

 

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