History of early Wales

[Music] Wales home of myths and legends a place of tales of King Arthur Wales is home to many stories and just as many historical figures which we will explore but to start off with we need to understand what the country of Wales is and how it developed so the word Wales itself comes from the Anglo-Saxons who call the native britons or barthonic while ask and walisk meaning Foreigner but the Welsh would originally have referred to themselves as britons and spoke breathonic the word that would later evolve into Welsh now comes from the 7th century kombrogi the barthonic word meaning fellow Countryman or comedy from 78 A.D most of Britain was part of the Roman Empire parts of Wales would simply be part of Roman Britain with various tribes now subjugated by Rome it was towards the end of the Western Roman Empire that a transformation started to occur in Britain as Rome had left Britain to its own fate sometime around the 5th Century but even before that the garrisons of Britain had been depleted over the last 50 years or so in 383 Magnus Maximus or Maxon ledig as he's known in Welsh took a good part of the Garrison stationed in Britain for campaigns in ghoul and Spain in order to claim the Imperial Throne Magnus was later killed by the forces of emperor theodosius in 388 The Garrison in Roman Britain never returned to their full strength and were the weakening grip parts of Roman Britain changed either back to a more tribal style with one strong man and is retinue controlling a small area or Roman Britain simply keeping calm and carrying on with everyday life but the sources of solid information is difficult to gather as there is a lack of sources around the next few centuries but we do have archaeological evidence by the 5th Century Roman Britain began to transform in the year of 407 Constantine III took the Garrison from Roman Britain to Gaul and never returned coins featuring Constantine have only ever been found in the southeast of Britain Wales was now facing attacks and raids from Ireland but some Irish tribes began to settle in Wales some in the Northwest and others in the Southwest Constantine was killed in 411 and the Roman Emperor henorius left the britons to their own devices [Music] what happened in Wales after this point is difficult to show a coherent timeline of events the monk gilders is one of our primary sources for what happened in the now emerging Kingdom of Wales but his account isn't in the style of a chronicler and is more of an angry sermon at the kings in Britain we know the britons did fight off a raiding party in 411 but the details only mentioned the britons defeating the Raiders no account of who led each party or the casualties or even the number of combatants the Greek historians awesomeus mentions this raid and Gilda states that the britons took up arms later Legends tal of a former Emperor's son leading the forces called owain there is a traditional View for the end of Roman rule in Britain with the ending in 410 but as mentioned parts of Wales could have already changed the small tribal States or Roman Britain communities or even new ones from Ireland before 410. archaeological evidence of large amounts of coins and silverware dating before 410 could imply that some rich Roman britons felt the need to hide such Treasures as the situation in Roman Britain was unstable or even dangerous in some parts we know raiding was common in coastal Parts either from the Irish or pigs but in places far from the coastline the situation could be very different for the people there but it's not like the Romans in Britain suddenly packed up everything and left on vast amounts of ships into Gaul or Roman Spain even if the message from the emperor was look after yourselves from now on but without Roman rule the people of Britain had to look locally for leadership and that is where some of the historical figures we will come across may have Arisen from the Early Middle Ages are also referred to sometimes as the Dark Ages but there was no fall back to a barbarian way of life it was more of a transformation into something else as trade still continued although not on such a large scale as before we know this because Irish craft Goods have been found in Dennis powers and Dennis Embrace glass and pottery which came from Athens and Gaul and even a Byzantine italio agricultural work scaled down to a more local level as there was not such a massive Beast such as the Roman army to feed now the period of 400 to 600 A.D is incredibly important to the development of the Welsh kingdoms however it's important to state that again there is no clear timeline of this period only one's interpretations and debates on what happened as each part of what would become the Welsh kingdoms were different in how romanized or Celtic they were one of our sources the early medieval whales a framework for archaeological research States there is little convincing evidence for the continued use of Robin Urban or military sites including those which remained in occupation during the 4th century we can look at this in three ways firstly the abandonment of urban Roman structures like Villas in the southwest of Wales could again be due to Rich Romans leaving Britain for safer parts of the empire this would have been supported by the catches of coins found secondly because of the collapsing economy there may not have been the funds or the material to maintain such infrastructure as the coinage was now obsolete in Britain and a return for trading for goods commenced with these changes happening the new emerging Welsh kingdoms would have formed around these changes and thirdly some Welsh Hill thoughts were later used as foundation for anglo-norman castles so these sites may have been repopulated at the start of the 5th Century Wales in the Early Middle Ages had many kingdoms we don't know much about the earliest kingdoms but some do have at least a shared history with some Roman emperors and others with the Irish the kingdom of David is one example the area in which the kingdom was formed was inhabited before the Roman conquest by a tribe called the deity but during the Roman occupation the area was a target for rage by the Irish and by the 4th Century the land will be settled or suffer incursions by an Irish tribe called the Desi who were driven out of Ireland the story is from a medieval Irish tale called the expulsion of the Desi and tells this tale Orchid son of Art Shop with his descendants went over the sea into the land of dovid and his sons and grandsons died there and from them descended the race of crintham over there the Historia britonium mentions them settling in West Wales and Welsh genealogies from the Royal line of dovid lists Irish names but they also list Roman names later on so there are two Origin stories on this Kingdom one where the Irish tribes settled and one with a Roman origin dating back further than the arrival of the Irish tribe perhaps for more of a pedigree Roman connection to enable the Welsh Kings in duffid to claim to be the truest rulers of the kingdom and the most legitimate but it's hard to prove and can sometimes only matter to a king with a firm grasp of power in the Kingdom who is also looking further to cement his authority and claiming to be a pedigree of Roman rulers is good propaganda but there are several inscribed stones in the southwest of Wales dated in the 5th Century and Beyond some have been inscribed in Latin while some have been in Irish ogum which is an early Middle Ages alphabet Magnus Maximus appears as the action for the king of dufford to claim lineage to Rome but the evidence points to a more Irish connection Gwyneth was home to the native tribe of the ordovicus and the dekhi angli after the Roman Conquest the area was more of a military Hub than a civil settlement meaning the people in the area didn't become as romanized as South Wales but like David parts of the area were settled by the Irish around the late Roman period and there were also inscribed memorial stones with Irish names on them dated around the 6th Century but compared to David the Irish settlements were smaller the Historia britonium towers of the legend of how Gwyneth came to be and of the ancestors of miles in Gwyneth Canada with his sons who numbered eight had come formally from the northern part that is the region called manai of gadodin 146 years before malguin ruled they expelled the Irish with very great destruction from these regions so that they never came back again to live there but as we know the Irish were not driven out as Stones inscribed in the 5th Century contest this story there is evidence of a settlement in clean the sons of Canada may have named the territories in Gwyneth or the territors were named after the Suns however the story of how the kingdom of Gwyneth formed supports the theory of a breathonic warlord settling in the area and forming the kingdom as archaeological evidence has found burial sites and Fort similar to ones in the north of Britain especially in the Fife area offering a theory that a warlord from that area came and conquered the now Kingdom of Gwyneth around the 5th Century the kingdom of powers in one of our sources the history of Wales by John Davis he describes the name powis probably comes from the word pagus both therefore are cognate with the word pagan It is believed that the nucleus of the kingdom of powers was the pagnas or the hinterland of the territory of the corvoni and that Palace expanded to include not only the territory the rich land of the middle seven Valley but also the lands between the upper reaches of the river win and D the traditional story of how Powers formed was that vortigan was the founder of the dynasty of gethonian but another tale tells us he married a woman called Severa who was the daughter of Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus giving another connection to Rome but we will cover the problematic name of water gun in another episode there isn't much evidence telling us about the early Kingdom we know it was heavily romanized with plenty of Roman settlements still in use after Rome's withdrawal Venta salurum coent and even as far as variconium in the now county of Shropshire the kingdom of gwent we have little information on how the kingdom of gwent formed after the Roman withdrawal our sources for the early Kings of gwent only List names and know other details the book of clandaf a 12th century Source only states names as well the kingdom of gluising Magnus Maximus once again appears in the creation of this Kingdom taudwig claims descendant from Magnus but more information is scarce as some of the smaller Petty Welsh kingdoms are mixed or were ruled over by other kingdoms and later formed new ones the rest of the kingdoms did have their own Kings but again their only names and no other information and some are twisted into Legends with no historical context only names and as the kingdoms Rose they would be conquered by stronger rivals or subjugated by them as several Welsh figures would rise to become major figures in Welsh history and we will explore them in the next episodes [Music] so now that we've explored the background of the kingdoms of Wales and the Roman withdrawal from Albion we can now explore the historical figures from Early Middle Ages Wales but before that we need to cover one individual who is connected to quite a few Welsh Royal dynasties and that is the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus or Max and leddick Magnus was a Roman soldier from the Roman provinces in hispania in 380 A.D he was stationed in Roman Britain and successfully defended the Roman provinces there from the picks in the north of modern day Scotland by 383 Magnus was proclaimed Roman Emperor and left Roman Britain with most of the Garrison that was stationed there and ruled in the western parts of the Roman Empire before being defeated by another rival in 388 Magnus rendered but was later executed by this Emperor there are many stories of Legends involving Magnus in early Welsh history one such story is called the dream of Max and ledig in which the emperor dreams of seeing an Old King on his Golden Throne and near him is a beautiful woman Magnus awakes and begins his quest to find and marry this woman of his dreams eventually finding her in carnarvon magnus's name is later inscribed on the pillar of Elysee erected in the 9th century Magnus is referred to as a king and his daughter also married volt gun a Britain leader but as we've shown a connection to a Roman Emperor for some Welsh Kings is propaganda to link legitimacy as he is also mentioned in the Welsh Triads a collection of Middle Ages manuscripts dated around the 13th century Jeffrey of Monmouth also makes use of Magnus in his fictitious story of the history of the kings of Britain with the Roman Empire withdrawal many kingdoms emerge from the vacuum of power and new settlements began to develop regarding the migration of Germanic peoples some germanics were already settled in Britain as they fought for Rome as fodorati and it's been suggested that some Saxons and friesians were offered to settle in the east of modern England by the Roman Administration around 320 to 350 A.D but by the 5th Century according to gildus Britain was overrun by the Saxons who he described as the Vengeance of God upon the britons for their sins which is a typical condemnation of something you'll find in the Bible but he does mention one man who he describes as a gentleman who perhaps alone of the Romans had survived the shock of this notable storm certainly his parents who had worn the purple were slain in it his descendants in Arden a have become greatly inferior to their grandfather's excellence under him our people regain their strength and challenged the victors to battle the law dissented and the battle went their way gilders names this man Ambrosius aurelianus or Ambrose aurelian and his tale is incredibly heroic with an intriguing backstory his parents were killed by the Saxons in their Invasion the theory is now that the Saxon invasion is now a migration and whenever fighting occurred it was more likely it was kingdoms fighting other kingdoms rather than Saxons vs britons with the only exceptions being raiding like the one that was reported in 411 A.D Ambrose's origin is implied as part of the Roman Britain Elite as Gilda States his family won the purple which means his family may have belonged to the aristocracy giving him the authority of being a leader to help defend his people from the Saxons if we look at the archaeological evidence of widespread destruction during the 5th 6th Century one of our sources the kings and queens of Wales by Timothy venning states it is now Apparent from archeology that there was less physical destruction in the fifth Sun country that was supposed earlier the physical destruction in towns with a mixture of signs of fires and piles of body indicating violent attacks is most apparent at three towns in the south east easy access to 5th Century Raiders Colchester Norwich and probably Lincoln these cases can be safely regarded as due to violence and their geographical location would suggest the responsibility of seaborne Invaders the signs of violent destruction at Roman forts is only Apparent at the smaller isolated Yorkshire Coastal Lookout points that would have been vulnerable to Seabourn picks or Saxons there are theories that gilders created Ambrosius for a story for his contemporaries to follow and used Ambrosius as a glorious example gilders even condemns ambrosius's descendants as having fallen to sinful ways but there is also a theory that Ambrosius was a relative to Saint Ambrose a bishop of Milan whose family was called the ambrosi the historian brutonium mentions a rivalry between Ambrosius and another Britain leader called vortigan but this account is dated around 820 to 850 A.D and is attributed to a Welsh monk called ninius who himself is subject to Legends gildas mentions a battle at mons badonicus or Mount badon which according to gilders happened in the year he was born 500 A.D and that the britons went over the Saxons and peace was restored for about 50 years but again Gilda's comments that the britons had fallen to their sinful ways gildus does not state that Ambrosius LED this particular battle but that he did defeat the Saxons in various engagements which culminated at Mount badon ninius offers this Victory to Arthur yet gilders does not mention a Arthur at all we do know by 490 A.D many Anglo-Saxon settlements had been created as archaeological evidence shows settlements around the Thames Valley which would become the Kingdom of Wessex so the idea of a battle against this new emerging Kingdom or its people between a rival kingdom is Justified and one Kingdom being possibly led by Ambrosius is an interesting story to tell vortegun is a complex name as the name may have been a title rather than a personal name as the word vortigan appears in many stories and legends and the name translates to Overlord or over King in breathonic the name doesn't actually appear in Gilda's account gilders States then all the counselors together with that proud Tyrant the British king was so blinded that as a protection to their country they sealed its Doom by inviting in among them like wolves into the Sheepfold The Fierce and Empire Saxons a race hateful both to God and men to repel the invasion of the northern Nations later accounts would link this Britain King as vortigan one of the stories tells us of how a proud Tyrant and his Council invited three ships of Saxons to Britain to fight for them against the picks and other counts and to accommodate these new troops they were given land in eastern England but would later make various complaints about the land and would then start to raise and plunder in order to get what they wanted settlements were burned and left in Ruins and many britons were killed or fled Albion the Anglo-Saxon monk bead tells us in his history of the English church and people that the Tyrant was vorsogon but bead's story tends to jump to a more legendary tale involving the two Saxon brothers hengus and horser as gilders again mentions no names of the Saxon leaders vorticon in Welsh history comes from the Welsh monk ninos and the historian britonium and the name may have also come from the Latin of Vitalis or vitilinus some Welsh Traditions link him to Gloucester where one of his ancestors originally came from he has also been given the nickname in some Welsh tales as garthen the Thin or repulsive due to him speaking a Saxon language ninas lists him as one of the kings of powers as he fled there after the Saxon Invasion and the Betrayal at the peace conference ninis also tells us that this vortigan fled to the left-handed parts of Wales and bead States the kingdoms of the angles Saxons and jutes were established by 446 A.D but all our sources agree that there was no sudden Saxon takeover of Albion and the theory is that most of Britain was held by the britons for at least a century after the Roman withdrawal a single specific water gun is difficult to pin down simply for the many stories there are that involve someone of that name and with gilders being the closest source we have on the kings of Britain around that time as mentioned before gilders does not refer to a vortgun at all and later chroniclers especially Jeffrey of Monmouth can taught a vorticon to unimaginable levels of inaccuracy to suit either a specific need for a story or for propaganda purposes gilders and the five Kings as mentioned before gildas's angry sermon tells us about the loss of Britain to the Saxons and in the second part of his work on the ruin and conquest of Britain gilders talks about five Britain Kings condemning them for their misrule and sinfulness and calls them tyrants the first king gildas mentions is called Constantine who he describes as the whalp of the unclean lioness of damonia this area is now modern day Cornwall gildas chastise his Constantine heavily and accuses him of the murder of two Royal youths and further accuses him of hanging their arms on the city Gates gilders further mentions the sin of adultery and that Constantine committed the sin repeatedly before advising him to repent unless he wants to Kindle in Hal this suggests that this King was alive at the time of gildas's writing and may have even read this condemnation the next king Gilda's Target is called Aurelius koninu who he accuses of the same sins as he did against Constantine but that Aurelius was thirsting after Civil Wars and The Spoils of War gilders again directly addresses Aurelius by reminding him of his parents and Brethren who died in their youth gilders besieges him that he should find Salvation or he will be tormented in hell unfortunately gilders does not tell us which kingdom Aurelius ruled vortipurius is described as a spotted leopard whose head is now growing gray and who has committed a great many sins Guild is quite cruelly knows that his end of life is now approaching by the day and that his wife had an honorable death and that he should spend what time he had left beseeching God for forgiveness vortiporius was king of dovid but that's all we know Guinea glasses was a prince of a small Kingdom in the north of Wales that would be later incorporated into the kingdom of Gwyneth gilders unsurprisingly condemns him for his sins and for creating a great war against his own kin Reading gildas's Writing it seems the biggest sin committed is always adultery or the sin of lust gilders goes on to describe that guinea glasses needed to seek out and enter the true state of existence or he shall suffer in the fires of hell and our fifth King who gilders calls the most powerful and who had defeated the most tyrants in kingdoms Mao Guin Gwyneth Gilda states that malguin exceeded many in power but also in Malice and that he stands above all for the amount of sins committed yet malguyen funded Many religious building projects across Wales he is also recorded as a great grandson of Canada yet his death was due to what was called the yellow plague which given the era around the 6th Century may have been the plague of Justinian which we now know is the bubonic plague now that we've explored the five Kings by gilders we can now move on and discover Kings who are not consistently condemned as Sinners by The Source material Reen the tall son of Mao Guin gweneth king of Gwyneth during Reen's Reign the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom has began to expand and capture several important cities such as Salisbury in 552 A.D clashing with the Britain kingdoms as well as other Germanic kingdoms for territories migration to Brittany by the britons was still continuing for the reign of Rin his kingdom must still have been affected by the plague that took his father the plague of Justinian John Davies in his book The History of Wales offers a theory on the effects of the plague on the britons the success of the English after 550 may have resulted in part for the instability of the britons to resist them because they had been enfeebled by the plague he then further suggests that the English avoided old Roman cities due to fear of the plague which if this plague was as deadly as the Black Death of 1346-1353 that it most likely decimated the local population recent scientific studies of archaeological sites containing victims of the plague in Britain have shown the bacteria arrived in 544 A.D Reen's father malguin gweneth died in 547 A.D from the plague the plague not only infected the britons but also the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms as the site where the samples were taken from was at edix Hill in Cambridgeshire the effects of the plague could have contributed to more Anglo-Saxon control of Britain or even the opposite staring the tide of migration to Britain how Reen managed his kingdom during the plague is unknown we do know that Reen was active with his army as he led a campaign up through the pennines a region of hills and mountains in the north of now England towards pickland using the Roman roads for what reasons we can only guess marching that far given the era several later Chronicles dated around the 13th century stated that Reen marched of his army to displace his Northern Rivals and occupied the area for a Time Reen's story ends of his death in an unknown Battle of skirmish Iago at belly grandson of Reen reigned from 599 to 1616 A.D we have hardly any information on his kingship his death in the year 1616 was also when a major battle was fought at Chester between the kingdoms of Paris and the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of vinicia the battle's most famous aspect is the murder of the monks from the monastery of Bangor on D by the king of Benicia who was a pagan and where Yargo is connected to this is he might have been among the monks as he may have joined the monastery at some point towards the end of his life or he may have even fought and died in the fighting all his death in the same year could be a coincidence unfortunately we don't have the full story The Welsh Triads give a different story of Yargo being assassinated cat fan app Yargo successor Thiago we have no information on the reign of CAD fan but reading his tombstone in clangadwallada in Anglesey it reads King kadfan most wise and Renown of all Kings perhaps during his Reign the kingdom experienced peace and prosperity cadwallan we have more details on cadwallan than most early Kings of Wales as during his Reign could Wallen had to deal with an ambitious king of northumbria Edwin who invaded Wales reaching as far as the Clinton peninsula in North Wales before turning his attention to Anglesey and trapping kadwalan in a Siege in the early 630s he escaped to Ireland to recuperate before returning to his kingdom like a reinvigorated king from a long Slumber could Wallen set about defeating his enemy and reclaiming his kingdom he managed to secure an alliance not with another Welsh King but King Pender of Mercia a pagan Anglo-Saxon Kingdom this may have been the first time a Welsh King allied with an Anglo-Saxon King thanks to this Alliance could Wallen drove Edwin out of Gwyneth winning some 14 battles which later poems would tell us about [Music] and thanks to the combined might of gwenith and Mercia Edwin's own kingdom would be invaded and at the climatic Battle of Hatfield Chase Edward was slain we have no details on the battle itself no account for the numbers present the tactics used or formations all we know is that Edwin was dead by the end of the battle further fighting continued in northumbria as could Wallen defeated and killed two of Edwin's successors leaving kadwallan as the ruler of northumbria no Welsh King had controlled this much of Britain since the Roman withdrawal the main source for kidwallen's story comes from bead and just like gilders before him beard writes a scathing condemnation of a Britain King bead goes on to describe that could Wallen set about to destroy the entire English race yet there is a contradiction here as if could Wallen sought to permanently remove the English from the Isle of Britain then why would he have allied with the Pagan king of Mercia we could argue could Wallin sacked the lands of northumbria as that is the nature of medieval warfare and was a common practice at the time after all kidwallen was on the defense at the start of the war against Edwin so it makes sense to try and break a rival's kingdom in order to protect or to even take the spools of war and expand regardless of kidwallan's long-term plans for northumbria they would never come to fruition as Edwin's son Oswald defeated and killed kadwallan at the Battle of heavenfield cadwalan having a degree of Fame was used in Jeffrey of monmouth's tales but as mentioned before there was no historical context from Jeffrey only pseudo-history before we continue to explore historical figures from Middle Ages Wales it's important to explain the Celtic Church in Wales and how the church changed over time and the age of saints which occurred from the 5th to the 6th Century A.D in Wales Island and Brittany and like the historical figures from the era there are Mysteries myths and legends the earliest Christian object found in Wales is a vessel with the Christian symbol the chiro on it dated around 375 A.D and found near the Roman town of Carl went John Davis describes the early Celtic Church the history of the Celtic church has a great Fascination but so scarce is the Contemporary evidence and so abundant the stories invented in later centuries usually with an ulterior motive that it is difficult to distinguish between the true and the false perhaps the very term Celtic Church gives rise to confusion for it was in fact an integral part of The Universal Church the idea that it was proto-protestant is a mistaken notion of reformers A Thousand Years Later indeed it would be better to describe it as the church among speakers of the Celtic languages Christianity was experiencing a rapid amount of changes during the 5th to the 6th century and many discussions were had about the true nature of Christianity and the worship of Christ with the arrival of the Germanic peoples into Albion they brought with them their own religion of paganism which would see the Roman Church sending missionaries to Britain in the 590s but they would find the British church had its own practices of worshiping God in the next episode we will explore some of these British Bishops and Saints from Wales there are many Saints from early Welsh history some with a long Rich history and some are simple short stories Christianity has been a part of Wales since at least 1314 A.D as we have records of British Bishops attending a council in 1314. all from different parts of Roman Britain from londinium to carmarthen the most famous Saint from Wales and the patron saint of Wales is Saint David or dowi sand Saint David existed during a Time called the age of saints in Wales which as the title implies is the age in which a great many Saints appeared to spread the word of God from Brittany through Wales Ireland and Cornwall this age started from the 5th Century into the 6th Century so again solid sources are hard to come by but with Saint David we do have a lot of information and stories the main source of information we have on Saint David is from the life of Saint David by rigavock this source is written around the 1090s 500 years after Saint David's death but it does give us a valuable insight into the 6th Century the Welsh Irish connection is present for the story of Saint David as he is featured in two feast days in Irish martyrologies which is a calendar for Saints the two scriptures are from Angus the cold and martyrology of tala but as for a biographical account we rely back to the life of Saint David we don't know the date of Saint David's birth but we can estimate that he was born around 500 to 520 A.D in the Kingdom of caridigion to King sand and his mother was called non and came from the kingdom of David yet there was no love between the parents as David was conceived forcefully from Sand lusting afternoon at the time of Saint David's birth the life of Saint David begins to parallel stories from the Bible for example the ruler of a local area threatened to kill The Unborn David feeling fear by his arrival but come the eve of Saint David's birth a powerful storm whipped up lightning crashed with an onslaught of hail and rain during this tumultuous storm David's mother non made her way to a ruined Chapel with a healing well whilst the storm thundered on non was protected by a Holy Light while she delivered the baby David the notion that Saint David shared a few traits with Jesus Christ is due to the author trying to establish the independence of the Welsh church as his father met King William the Conqueror in 1081 so by having an account of the man who founded the Welsh Church it helps legitimize it similar to Welsh Kings using genealogy to connect them with Roman emperors and to remind ourselves that the source's goal is to promote Saint David in a way that certain traits of his will be embellished but it still tells us a fascinating Story the next chapter is Saint David's Life Starts at the monastery at Hen venue near aberristswith the description of this Monastery is that it had an ancient world which stood at the northern part of the churchyard and that the church was near the banks of the Aeron with its clover-filled Meadows and acorn loaded trees by five four five A.D Saint David was now the leader of the movement in Albion to oppose the teachings of Pelagius which taught the people that everyone could be received in heaven through their own efforts rather than relying on God's grace this was seen as heresy by the Catholic church and to combat this a sinode was held which is a meeting of Christian figures and at one of these meetings in a place where three Roman roads met near carmarthen a large Gathering occurred with many voices talking over each other Saint David who is described as being six foot tall struggled to speak to the masses the life of Saint David describes what happens next then at the appointed place called brevi they endeavored to preach then David made his way to the snowd the Assembly of Bishops rejoiced the people were glad and the whole Gathering exalted the Earth under him swelled and was raised to a hill a church is situated on top of that hill now this is just one of the many miracles attributed to Saint David during the same address a white dove is said to have landed on Saint David's shoulder and many of his depictions show him with the white dove on his shoulder the dove represented Holiness another miracle attributed to him is about a flock of bees and The Story Goes that an Irish Monk and follower of Saint David known as Saint model he cared for a flock of European honeybees at Saint David's Monastery tending to them with great care and delicacy whilst harvesting the honey and wax they produced when it was time for modernock to return to Ireland and preach the were enamored for him and when mod knock boarded a shipbound for Ireland the bees followed him mod knock not wanting to take the bees as they belonged to the monastery returned them but each time he got back to the ship the bees would be right behind him three times he returned them until Saint David offered His blessings and stated that modern Oak may take the Beast island with him this is one story of how the honeybees were introduced into Ireland a short story about Saint David is that when Saxons invaded Saint David advised his fellow britons to wear leaks on their helmets to recognize each other as their armor was similar to the Saxons a lifelong vegetarian Saint David also only drank water as he followed a typical monastic life praying daily keeping few or no possessions Saint David made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he was made a bishop and given several gifts a BAL a golden tunic a staff and finally a portable High altar the eye altar Saint David would found many monasteries in Albion including his own in pembrokeshire where he and his disciples would practice what was referred to as in Imitation of the monks of Egypt with his community established the monks would plow the field without oxen and Then followed the typical monk life of praying daily as well as reading and writing Saint David's death is recorded on the 1st of March 589 A.D which became his saint day his last words were reported being be joyful keep the faith do the little things you have seen me do although Saint David is the patron saint of Wales there are still plenty of other Saints from Welsh history whose stories are just as fascinating some of the next few Saints stories offer some lovely Tales of human nature but others have a dark tone to them the next story involves a tale of unrequited love or desire Saint Winifred or Gwen fawi is reported to have lived around the 7th Century in North Wales at Holy One and like Saint David details on her life come from sources written much later the first one is a Welsh manuscript written in 1135. giving us details on her life and a list of Miracles she is said to have performed and the second one is from an Englishman called Robert who was the prior of Shrewsbury who wrote his version in 1138 we will be following the Welsh version so to begin Winifred was a member of Welsh royalty in the north of Wales and her uncle was Saint bino who at some point began to educate the young Winifred on one of her father's Estates during one average day for Winifred where she would be committed to her tasks a prince called karadog of a nearby Kingdom approached her and demanded she marry him Saint Winifred refused and in a fury carradol attacked her Winifred fled to a nearby church but as she got to the door carried on caught her and chopped her head off in one account her head rolls into the church and where it stopped a holy well is formed horrified at what had transpired Saint bino took winifred's head and placed it next to her body and prayed that she might be Resurrected suddenly Winifred was made whole again with a white scar across her neck to symbolize her martyrdom as for karadog he was struck dead and the Earth is said to have opened up and his body fell into the Earth the other version in the life of Saint bino changes the story to fit a narrative similar to one in the bible where jesus resurrected a person you'll find these parallels and other Saint stories and we've already covered one like this in Saint David's Tale the other version States then bino took the girl's head and placed it back with the body covering the body with a cloak and saying to her mother and father who were mourning for her be quiet for a little while and leave her until the mass is over then bino celebrated the sacrifice to God when the mass was finished the girl rose up entirely healed and dried the sweat from her face God and bino healed her where her blood fell to the earth a spring was formed which even today still heals peoples and animals many who had seen what happened began to Believe In Christ Saint Winifred would go on to establish a covenant of nuns at holywell which attracted pilgrims to visit the site and the holy well for its healing properties Saint Winifred passed away at gutherin before we end on Saint Winifred we will mention her hack geography and how her story borrows elements from an Irish Celtic goddess Christianity uses Pagan stories and mixes elements of the story into its own Christian mythology as for Saint Winifred the holy well may have been a pagan sight of worship to silio of mayfard was from North Wales and according to Welsh genealogies tasilio was a member of the royal family of the kingdom of powers around the later 6th century our main source of information about decilio comes from a Welsh poem titled kanu tasilio written in the 12th century there is a later edition of the life of decilio from the 15th century in Latin this Edition is said to use parts of the now lost original Welsh version but for another saint tasilio's story starts with him fleeing his family home and yearning towards a monastery at mayfard where he began to study for the monastic life under the Abbot tasilio in his later life would found a church on Clan tocilio Island where he stayed for a time before returning to mayfard to take up the position of Abbott in the poem canoe to silio it mentions the building of the church he raised a church with fostering hand a church with bright lights and a chancel for offering a church above the stream by the glassy Waters a church of powers Paradise most Fair the poem gives to scillio a different story of him being a grand priest of the people of powis and Gwyneth but still the son of the king of Palace as such the poem tells us that decilio's first career was that of a warrior which suits the son of an early Middle Ages King the poem goes on to mention to silio fighting to defend his people from the northumbrians at the Battle of Mesa Field the poem describes the event the lamenting after the battle was a precious Omen attacking wonderfully in battle powerfully causing Devastation amidst the shouting of soldiers in a fight of serpents he was the serpent of Chieftains he stood his ground may God stand by us the Battle of mazerfield was a major battle in 642 in which the forces of Mercia Gwyneth and Palace all fought against the kingdom of northumbria and won after this event tasillio settled in Brittany establishing a monastery there and later dying there in another version he is said to have died in Wales Saint malangath one of the few female saints in Welsh history her story is even more obscure than most as her story is from a manuscript which is dated nearly 800 years after her lifetime but the manuscript may have been copied from earlier now lost sources malangif's life begins in Ireland as a member of royalty as her father was an Irish Chieftain and like members of a Middle Ages royal family malangath would be expected to marry a noble for diplomatic reasons yet malangif refused and arranged marriage on the grounds of her celibacy she then fled to Wales at Pennant malangwith where she would live for the next 15 years before meeting a prince called Brockwell yistith Rock who was out hunting with his hounds blockwell's hounds had chased a hair which fled towards malangath and hid in her cloak as she was praying what happened next is described from the book Celtic Saints of Wales by Elizabeth Reese then the prince cried get it hounds get it but the more he shouted urging them on the further the dogs treated and Howling fled from the little animal finally the prince altogether astonished asked the girl how long she had lived on her own on his lands in such a lonely spot in reply the girl said that she had not seen a human face for these 15 years flabbergasted by her response the prince admiring her piety and dedication offered her lands in the valley on which to build a covenant the prince declared oh most worthy virgin malangath I give and present to you the most winningly these my lands for the service of God that they may be a Perpetual Asylum refuge and defense in honor of your name excellent girl but on the other hand if any wrongdoers who enjoyed the protection of your Sanctuary shall set out in any direction to do harm then the independent abbots of your Sanctuary who alone know of their crimes shall if they find them in that place ensure that the culprits be released and handed over to the Paris authorities in order to be punished a church was eventually built near the valley in the 8th century and the site was vast compared to the small church that is now left as for Saint malangath she spent the rest of her days as the first abess of the now Abbey for the next 37 years before passing away she became the patron saint of hairs and her remains are said to have been buried in the local church or the church was built around her tomb as the site of the church predates Christianity as archaeological research shows the site was originally a middle Bronze Age Cemetery dating around 1200 BC whether the site was repurposed to build the church on the existing remains is unknown the church itself has been reconstructed many times over the centuries as the current building is dated from the 12th century onwards the Romanesque Shrine is argued to be one of the oldest shrines of its kind in Albion Saint caddock hailing from the kingdom of gwent in South Wales he was born into royalty as his father was a prince of gwent and his mother was the daughter of King bricken the ruler of ban bakraniod his story like other Saints is written well after his time some 500 years later in the 12th century by lithris Afghan according to the life of cadog lithrath mentions cadog's fondness of Roman culture even lamenting that he will never meet his poet hero Virgil as him being a pagan meant that they would never Meet in Heaven lithris states that cadog was educated in coent one of the most romanized parts of Wales after his education cadog set out to found a monastery and thanks to his Royal connections he managed to be granted land near Barry Island the monastery that would be built is known as the Church of Stags as the story about the monastery is that two monks that cadog lived with had refused to dig the soil to determine the quality of the site pair of Stags then arrived and began to till the ground with their antlers this was seen as a blessing from God when cadog founded the site of the monastery he stayed in the area for the night praying till the morning with two monks and in the morning sun a white boar appeared as a sign of where to build the monastery a white ball appears in many stories about the founding of monasteries written by sources much later after the Saints lives but this particular Monastery that was now created became a major center of learning for monks until 988 A.D when a certain group of people with longboats attacked and destroyed the site cadog would travel across Albion and Ireland founding a monastery at canvaslang in what is now Scotland and creating Tales of Miracles along his journey such as creating a holy healing well with a stick similar to The Tale of Moses in the Old Testament in his later years cadog settled at his Monastery in Wales and one of the tales of his death is as a Saxon Warrior arrived at the church on his horse and then attacked CatDog with a lance killing him many of these Saints have stories intertwined with royal figures of the surrounding Welsh kingdoms and their own native ones by the late 7th Century the age of saints was over and by this time most of Albion was Christian once again although the Celtic Church would remain independent from the Catholic church until at least the 8th Century not for any particular Sinister reason perhaps due to the isolation the Welsh experienced being Albion as the now English kingdoms were still Pagan but they would eventually become Christian which in turn meant that the Welsh church now had to resist the now established English church in Canterbury an example of this is the dating of Easter as the Celtic Church followed a different system from a time where the Western Roman Empires that existed John Davies describes the disagreement in dating the Celtic Church adhered to a system devised by the western church in 1314 while Rome followed a system adopted there in 457. but even with the English kingdoms now Christian the fighting for territories would reach New Heights as by the late 7th Century the English kingdoms were firmly rooted in southern Albion and new challenges awaited the Welsh kingdoms and kings [Music] the nation of the Welsh was conceived on the deathbed of the Roman Empire it was born in the excitement of the age of saints but its infancy was meager and lonely yet as it shall be seen it would have an exhilarating adolescence now the age of saints is over in Wales and we enter the late 7th Century towards the 8th Century the kingdoms of Wales would experience their greatest challenges yet as the English Kingdom of Mercia would reach its Zenith of power threatening the kingdoms in Wales of Gwyneth Palace and gwent and a new source material would emerge the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles consisting of various animals compiled together giving us another source to try and understand what was happening in Albion but before we look at the conflicts involving the Welsh and the mercians let's check upon some of the other kingdoms of Wales and their history in the late 7th century the kingdom of gwent this kingdom is often tied with the kingdom of glowissing due to the local Royal Dynasty being relatives information on this Kingdom in the 7th century is scarce but we do have a record of a climactic fight with the English in 630 A.D where king taldric led the Welsh to victory at the cost of his life John Davis mentions this in his history of Wales according to tradition the men of gwent defeated the English in about 630 A.D a victory which thwarted English attempts to gain control of the northern coastlines of the seven sea their victory was among the most important events in the history of Wales but despite this epic battle we don't know much about archaeological evidence tells us that trade was alive and wow between the kingdoms of the English and the Welsh kingdoms a research framework for the archeology of Wales states that fragmentary Anglo-Saxon objects from Dennis powers and the norbum imply some sort of contact and or trading with the Anglo-Saxon world the apparent concentration of anglo-saxon metalwork in the southeast of Wales illustrates The Wider cultural landscape for the Dennis Powers assemblage and the disfusion of objects from England from the 6th Century if not earlier such fines May reflect the influence and political Liaisons of kings of Southeast Wales and the dynasty of the kingdom of gwent with the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during this period the kingdom of David the kingdom in which Saint David was active around for most of his life in the early to late 6th Century but moving into the 7th Century there isn't much information regarding what was happening in dufford a king of dovid married the soul princess of bracaniog which gained him the Throne of the Kingdom giving him a substantial amount of authority in South Wales and in the annuals of Wales A source dated around the 10th Century States in 645 the hammering of the region of David when the monastery of David was burnt we don't know the identity of the attackers the kingdom of caredigion for this period in the history of the Kingdom we only have names of the Kings although one king invaded and annexed part of dovid around the late to early 8th Century greatly expanding the kingdom the kingdom of gwenith we've already covered a few Kings from this Kingdom most notably cadwallan and his campaigns but by the time of cadwallon's death the kingdom was severely weakened as his eventual successor cadavile is deemed a weak King and is referred to as a low-born king and due to this weakness Gwyneth was now on a week of footing in terms of the power dynamic between Gwyneth and Mercia under Panda who carried on his war with the northumbrians cadav Isle only managed to secure the throne as cadwallan's son was too young to rule but cadaver's fate was tied with Pender who would later die at the Battle of win Wade in 655. he is reported to either have abandoned Pender or watched the battle from afar awaiting the outcome regardless of the actions taken cadwallan's son cadwalada app cadwalan took charge of Gwyneth his King ship is considered on par with his fathers given the length of his Reign although his kingdom experienced two Great Plague outbreaks perhaps a Resurgence of the plague of Justinian the annals of Wales recalled cadwallada's death 682 A.D a great plague in Britain in which cadwallada son of kadwalan of guineth dies is known for his association with the national flag of Wales the red dragon although we're not sure when the flag or symbol was first used perhaps during the Roman occupation of Britain we don't have a definitive answer cadwallada's history is tied up with the pseudo-history of Jeffrey a Monmouth as for his actual history there isn't much looking at the annals of Wales in the 680s several horrible events took place in 683 a plague in Ireland in 684 a great earthquake in the Isle of Man 689 to quote the annuals the rain turned to blood in Britain and in Ireland milk and butter turned to blood as for Gwyneth the next two kings ruled the kingdom for quite some time but we only have their names nothing about their rule or what was happening in the Kingdom at the time the kingdom of powers we've already covered one major event the kingdom of Palace was involved in in either 613 or 616 the Battle of Chester where the king of Palace was slain with this defeat the kingdom was split in two as a king from a sub-kingdom took over the Northern parts of Paris a sub-kingdom in Wales was a minor Kingdom Under the authority of a larger Kingdom gwenith had quite a few sub-kingdoms under its Authority Powers would eventually be whole again in the early 8th century however before its reunification the kingdom would lose territory to the English kingdoms a king of Southern or Northern powers and the overlord of the sub-kingdom of penguin is fought alongside kingpender of Mercia but after Panda's defeat and death the Paris King is thought to have met his end at the same battle as Panda although another tale has him defending and dying to protect the sub kingdom of penguin which would eventually be attacked and destroyed by the resurgent kingdom of northumbria poems written in the later centuries tell us the suffering Powers endured as well as the complete destruction of the sub-kingdom Germanic settlers would colonize this area known in our time as Shrewsbury yet the Welsh would launch efforts to retake this land leading to the construction of a dike a fortified earthwork but before we look into the creation of the Earthworks there is one final Kingdom's history we need to cover beforehand the kingdom of Mercia we will just give a quick summary of The Kingdom as the focus of this video is on offer and the Welsh mercier's earliest history is the tale of Legends with a legendary King establishing the kingdom around the 6th Century the Kingdom's capital is a town called Tamworth and like Kingdoms in Wales Mercier had its own sub kingdoms which over time would be annexed and incorporated into Murcia the years of 716 to 825 was the height of mercy and Power King Panda of Mercia set the course to the kingdom Supremacy with his defeat and death the kingdom went through a brief period of instability but its power was soon back and grew even stronger under successive sons of Pender until we get to perhaps the most famous king of Mercia offer offer acquired the Throne of Mercia after a brief conflict with a Thane who had taken the throne after the murder of the previous King to demonstrate the power offer could wield in the height of his Reign the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles tell us that in 794 in this year King offer King of the mercians ordered King ethelbert's head to be struck off he was the king of the East angles a testament to office Prestige is that Charlemagne King of the Franks and the First Holy Roman Emperor wrote to offer in 796 calling him his dearest brother and to be a most strong protector of your Earthly country King offers most enduring Legacy is the offer's Dyke a huge set of Earthworks stretching from the north of the border of Wales and down to the South King offers Dyke is the largest and longest one in Britain but it is not the only one in Britain the office dike Association gives this description offers Dyke is a linear earthwork which roughly follows the Welsh English boundary it consists of a ditch and Rampart constructed with a ditch on the Welsh facing side and appears to have been carefully aligned to present an open view into Wales from along its length as originally constructed it must have been about 27 meters wide and eight meters from the ditch bottom to the bank top the construction and origins of offers dike are obscure various theories are offered to us one is that the dike was constructed to protect Mercier from renewed Welsh Kingdom attacks as Powers had regained its strength and challenged the English at Hereford along with other Welsh kingdoms as the annals of Wales State a battle between the britons and the Saxons that is the Battle of Hereford we don't know which Welsh king led the armies some sources say the king of powers While others are ambiguous about the leader of the army regardless the mercians may have initially built wattstyke which is a smaller dike going from the north of Wales down to Shropshire however the origins of this dike are also debatable as parts of the dike have been carbon dated to the early 9th century but back to office Dyke's Origins there is a suggestion that the dike was built as a physical border between his kingdom and the Welsh kingdoms the first recorded mention of the Daikin Chronicles is from a Welsh monk called Assa who was the biographer of Alfred the Great he states that the dike went from sea to Sea the construction of such a grand Earthworks would have taken years and would have required a massive amount of Manpower parts of the dike that were already under construction must have needed protection as if the dike was to be made without the consent of the Welsh kingdoms they most likely would have tried to stop it from being built as the design was such that Mercier could look far into the Welsh territories how long the dike took to build we don't know and or if it Incorporated existing Earthworks from Roman Britain more archaeological research is needed but during the Heyday of the dike it most certainly was used to look into Wales and we have records of offer raiding parts of Wales in 778 the devastation of the South britons by offer 784 the devastation of Britain by offer in the summer in terms of the Welsh Kingdom's relationship with offer they were mixed at best however in regards to the construction of the Dyke the Welsh Kingdom's bordering Mercier gwent in Powers may have worked with the mercians in setting the boundaries for the Dyke John Davies a history of Wales tells us that there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Paris and gwent on the long mountains near triliston the dike Vias to the east leaving the fertile slopes in the hands of the Welsh he then further States on gwent's borders there is no more obvious boundary in the whole of Britain than the gorge of the lower y but assuming that the dike in that region is part of offer's project his men went to the trouble of building the dike on the crest to the east of the gorge clearly with the intention of recognizing that the river Y and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of gwent walking along this part of the dike it's clear that it would be easy for the mercians to look deep into gwent's territories and as the river makes easy natural boundaries it made sense to build the dike on the mercy inside of the Border then trying to infringe and construct it on gwent's territory King Arthur died in 796. three years after the attack on Linden farm and although the Welsh kingdoms would still have to contend with Mercia a new threat arrived that would change the kingdoms of Britain and Ireland the Vikings the first recorded Viking attack in Britain was in 793 at lindisfarne in the Kingdom of northumbria the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles tells us of the event a Great Famine and after that in the same year the harrying of the Heathen miserable to destroyed God's Church in lindisfarne by rupine and Slaughter the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles also record the first time the Vikings came to Britain in 787 although there may have been earlier visits just not recorded but in this case they killed the Magistrate the subsequently named Viking age would see great changes in Britain and Ireland now we will explore the Welsh Kingdom's history with the Vikings to begin with the word Viking is a sort of umbrella term similar to Celtic as when we look under the umbrella we see various names given for example Norse Norse man Danes northmen Raiders sea Raiders Roos Etc and depending on the source particularly Christian sources they wrote down any word that meant Raider or pirate the annals of Wales tell us that in 796 the first coming of the Gentiles among the southern Irish the Oxford dictionary gives the following definition of the word Viking a member of a Scandinavian people who attacked and sometimes settled in parts of Northwest Europe including Britain in the 8th to 11th centuries while the description given is not a bad description it is not wholly accurate people from Scandinavia during the time of the Vikings in the 8th to 11th centuries did more than just raid and settle in parts of Europe they were Traders Craftsmen mercenaries Farmers bards explorers and conquerors Etc there had always been Raiders or Pirates the Vikings were the most famous of them and to the Welsh kingdoms they had dealt with people raiding and settling before the germanics and the Irish before the Vikings depicted as barbarians by some accounts however if we take a look at the sophisticated ships they used to travel across the seas and rivers that's just one indication that they were more than just Pagan barbarians yet there would be a noticeable difference between the Danes that attacked lindersfarne in 796 to the ones that invaded England in 1066 with Harold hardrada for one there would be a difference of religion by 1066 most of Scandinavia was Christian and we don't know which part of Scandinavia the Vikings that Blended lindisfarne came from whereas Harold hardrada who is sometimes referred to as the last great Viking and one of the most famous ones was from Norway if we look at some of the chronicler's descriptions of the Vikings both Christian and Muslim sources the historian dudo based in Francia offers this about the Viking age and expansion these people who incidentally abandon themselves to excess Indulgence live in outrageous Union with many women and they're in Shameless and unlawful intercourse bred innumerable progeny once they have grown up the young quarrel violently with their fathers and grandfathers all with each other about property and if they increase too greatly in number and cannot acquire sufficient arable land to live on a large group is selected by drawing of lots according to ancient custom who are driven away to foreign peoples and Realms so that they by fighting can gain themselves countries where they can live and continue all peace the Islamic sources on the Vikings are rich and full of interesting details one Islamic scholar Ahmed IBN fadlam who encountered Norseman at the king of the bulgars court near the river Volga he describes them I have seen the ruse as they came on their Merchants Journeys and encamped by the vulgar I have never seen more perfect physical specimens tall as date palms blonde and Ruddy each man wore a garment which covered his body on one side and left one side free for Action each man carried an ax a Frankish type sword and a knife with him tattoos covered him from fingertip to neck they drink wine excessively day and night Ahmed further comments on them being heathens and that their washing habits were not the most hygienic if we look at one of the best preserved Viking towns the description some of the chroniclers have given us get disproved quite quickly one of the most lucrative source of information on a Norse town during the Viking period is headabi as the archaeological evidence shows us that hedibi was a center for trade in the region the town also had plenty of commercial Ventures from Merchants craftsmanship shipbuilders Etc fine goods were also made the town also minted coinage as we've mentioned many times before coinage is an excellent way to Showcase or solidify a Kings or Chieftains Authority some of these Enterprises are dated as early as the 8th Century the town also featured the first church in Denmark constructed during the height of the Viking age in 850 so the quality of the goods being made and traded contradict what some of the chroniclers recorded of nor Society now that we've covered a brief outline about who the Vikings were and a small part of their culture and history we can now look at the impact they had on Wales and the Welsh kingdoms Wales is the unique one in Britain as unlike the areas in which today are modern-day England and Scotland there was never a major large settlement by the Norsemen to the scale of say for example the Dane law in England which was the areas in England settled by the Norse or in Scotland's case part of the Mainland and the Isles which would later become the kingdom of the Isles there were small-scale settlements which we will come to yet Wales did suffer many raids by the Vikings along with trading with them and in some cases even hiring the Vikings to use against or Ally with against other Welsh Kings as well as against the emerging power of the Kingdom of Wessex the first recorded named victim of the Viking raid in Wales was a Welshman called kinin the annals of Wales state kinin is killed by the Gentiles we don't know who this person was the Welsh sources like other sources had various names for the Vikings we will now look at each kingdom in Wales and the history of the Vikings there let's start with Gwyneth and a particular location Anglesey an island just off the coast of Gwyneth Anglesey was important to the kingdom of Gwyneth as the island featured the capital Abba flower from the 9th century onwards as well as being the major food Provider from fishing to farming thanks to the flatless and fertile lands the Vikings raided the island in 853 A.D in 856 the Vikings attacked again led by a man called gorm or orm yet the Vikings would suffer a defeat inflicted by the king of Gwyneth rodri later known as rodri the Great we will get into his life in the final episode The Great Kings of Wales the battle at Anglesey was a great victory for the Welsh although we lack significant details on the battle itself the victory brought a claim for rodri as the Viking leader was killed Anglesey would be safe for a Time the Pagan Vikings still raided many churches and monasteries in Wales similar to everywhere in Britain and Ireland as they were easy targets to loot and the monks that were enslaved would be worth something as well the Viking activity in gwenith for a time after the battle was simple hit and run raids hitting small coastal areas or Christian sites as wales's terrain is not as flat as say for example England so large-scale raids across Wales would be more difficult than in England yet the Vikings would set up shop for trading for the day before returning to their ships and some place names in Wales are directly influenced by the Vikings potentially indicating settlements or integration with the local population the arrival of the Vikings would see Warfare between the English kingdoms and the Welsh kingdoms simmer down for a Time allowing rodri to consolidate his kingdom and expand as perhaps his victory over the Vikings made the Norse warbands think twice before attacking in 865 the great Heathen Army arrived attacking and looting across England as well as placing puppet Kings on the Thrones of northumbria and the once great enemy of the Welsh the kingdom of Mercia which was split in two and while the great Heathen Army never attacked the Welsh kingdoms their actions in the English kingdoms would have an effect as more Viking attacks began on Wales from 871 onwards and in 877 King rodri had to flee his kingdom to Ireland to gather troops as the Vikings from Dublin attacked Anglesey and the invading Force overwhelmed rodri's initial defenses he did return in 878 yet in the same year the Viking puppet king of Mercia kale wolf perhaps with some troops from the great Heathen Army attacked and killed robbery in battle and again we don't have the details on the battle but his sons would avenge his death against the mercians at the Battle of Conway which the annals of Wales State as the Battle of Conway Vengeance for rodri at God's hand [Music] the next mention of the Vikings in Gwyneth is that the eldest son of rodery attempted to Ally with the Viking Kingdom in York in order to counter the powerful English Kingdom of Wessex which had taken mercier's place as the dominant power in Britain as under their King Alfred later known as Alfred the Great he had led his troops to victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Eddington in 878 this new Powerhouse was a threat to Gwyneth but the alliance with the Vikings in York did not last as in 893 a new Army from Scandinavia started raiding the threat of this Norse Army was enough that the Welsh and the English joined forces to defeat them at the Battle of buttington before the battle the Viking Army had moved into Gwyneth after capturing the Fortified city of Chester the sons of rodery however resisted the Vikings and due to the fierce resistance by the men of Gwyneth the Norsemen headed Southward clashing with the English Welsh Army there the actions caused by the Norseman and their fellow welshmans invading each other left the Welsh kingdoms little choice but to accept whether willingly or begrudgingly the overlord ship from the Kingdom of Wessex under Alfred despite this cooperation between the Welsh and Wessex the Vikings would conduct an enormously destructive raid as the annals of Wales State the north men came and laid waste cliger and gwent all of these locations are south of gwenith we can only speculate why the Vikings didn't attack Gwyneth a band of Norsemen did attack Anglesey in 903 as this group was driven from Dublin by the Irish but what little settlement they tried to create was soon overwhelmed and forced to flee by the army of Gwyneth after this period the Viking activity in Gwyneth declined to opportunistic raids the next time the Vikings play any prominent role in Gwyneth other than an attack on the capital in 693 was in the 970s where two rival claimants for the throne had both hired Viking mercenaries and at the start of the same decade Norse raids were on the rise again so much so that the Welsh Kings met with the now King of the English Edgar Wessex had evolved into the kingdom of England thanks to the children of Alfred the Great Conquering the remaining English kingdoms and the Dane law lands in the north of England the meeting was set up in 973 in order for alliances and agreements to be made to protect each kingdom from further Viking attacks or attempted territorial conquests as in 972 a named Viking leader called Godfrey launched a raid on Anglesey Godfrey would later Ally with a Welsh Prince whose father was a previous king of gweneth but was overthrown this Army then invaded Gwyneth in 980 but was defeated and the former Prince was killed in the battle Godfrey escaped and returned in 987 during an opportunistic time as Gwyneth had been conquered by another great king Mala did King of dehaibath as he had just conquered Gwyneth in 986. matadid didn't have the time to centralize and consolidate his new kingdom so when Godfrey invaded Anglesey matadid retreated to South Wales The Raid conducted was so devastating that we have records of people taken into slavery some 2 000 men were taken captive as slaves and later ransomed back the last raid in angle C by the Vikings in the Early Middle Ages occurred in 993 as the year 1000 is the start of the high Middle Ages and this series covers the Early Middle Ages so now we've covered the Vikings history in Gwyneth in the next episode we will view the history of the other Welsh kingdoms and how the Vikings made their mark now that we've explored the background of the Vikings and the Viking activity in Gwyneth we can now move on to other Welsh kingdoms now moving on to the next Kingdom powis the history of this Kingdom during the Viking period is difficult to show as by the middle of the 9th century Powers had endured Decades of repeated attacks and raids by the English kingdoms specifically from Murcia the last independent king of Palace in the Early Middle Ages died in Exile in Rome in 856 the kingdom would either be conquered or united through diplomacy by the king of Gwyneth rodri the Great Powers would not become an independent Kingdom again until two centuries later in the high Middle Ages as for Viking activity in powers during the Early Middle Ages due to the location of Palace and perhaps offers Dyke played a role in protecting Palace or at that point in history the dike may have fallen into disrepair we have hardly any information on Vikings in Palace although the Battle of buttington is the battle where the Welsh and English kingdoms joined forces to defeat a Viking warband so it's plausible that the men of powers would have fought in that joint Army bracaniog due to the landlocked territory of the Kingdom brokeniel didn't suffer as many raids by the Vikings as the Welsh kingdoms were Coastal territories did although the kingdom did suffer from the large-scale raid of the Norsemen in the raid of 896 which included other kingdoms such as gwent but for the kingdom of brakaniog the attacks by the Norseman was not the biggest threat to the Kingdom's Independence that came from Gwyneth and Mercia the small amount of information we have on the threat comes from the Welsh monk Assa who was the biographer of King Alfred of Wessex he tells us that the kingdom sought the aid of King Alfred but how far this protection went ended when Alfred's daughter Ethel fled Lady of the mercians attacked the kingdom to what extent of an attack on the kingdom we don't know and for the reasons we can speculate the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles tell us about the attack 9 16 in this year before mid-summer on June 16 the day of the Festival of Saint quinaris the Martyr Albert Egbert who had done nothing to deserve it was slain together with his companions three days later Ethel fled sent an army into Wales and stormed bracaniog and there captured the wife of the king and 33 other persons in the 930s the independence of the kingdom was lost again as Howell da King of the high bath took control of the Kingdom after the last King's death the kingdom of gwent like brakaniogwent suffered from the Norse raid of 896 but the kingdom was subject to a series of raids from 850 onwards but information from this kingdom is scarce the Vikings did reappear in 916 and raided the coast of Southeast Wales which would include gwent but this Viking band went further into England attacking around gloucestershire and herefordshire the frustrating issue regarding gwent is that information about the kingdom over the centuries is that while sources really pay a little attention to gwent during the Viking age one reason Springs to mind is that because of gwent's capitulation towards King Alfred of Wessex this action in turn reduced the kingdom to a petty Kingdom or vassal state of Wessex which the kingdom may have had little Choice given the aggression from other Welsh kingdoms however we lack the details on the agreement between Wessex and the south east Welsh kingdoms like Powers gwent was bordering the English kingdoms which slowly weakened gwent against the increasing power of Wessex and later the kingdom of England gluessing this Kingdom's history is often tied with gwent as over the centuries the two would form the kingdom of morganu the Viking raid of 896 affected areas of glowissing as well in 850 we know that the Vikings raided Cardiff and would later settle and trade in areas around Cardiff possibly using the old Roman Fort as a base the extent of Viking settlements around the Cardiff area was significant enough that several place names are derived from the north how the kings of glowissing acted towards these attacks and settlement is unknown the threat of attacks from the mercians in the 880s was enough that the kingdom sought the protection of Wessex and would later fight alongside Wessex against the Vikings by the 10th Century the kingdom would Ally or submit to King ethelstan of the newly created Kingdom of England the kingdom of dahibath is a fusion Kingdom consisting of the kingdom of caridigion dovid and brookenioch this kingdom was created in 920 during the Viking age before the Kingdom's creation the Vikings had already created a presence in South Wales with trading stations along the coast we've looked at the Vikings in WoW sources as well as Irish and English ones we do have some Viking sources on Wales one from the high Middle Ages the Icelandic book of settlements tells us this in that book on the Reckoning of time which the venerable bee Drew up there is mention made of the island called fool which in books is said to be six days sailing North from bretland bretland is what the Norse call Wales some of the other North sources on Wales simply mention accounts of raiding parts of Wales along with other parts of Albion and Ireland although there is a tale of a Norseman marrying a Welsh princess and gaining half of his new father-in-law's lands going back to Viking activity in South Wales archaeological evidence of Viking settlement show us that there were silver crafted Goods containing ingots and Scandinavian as well as Anglo-Saxon coins dating from the 11th century although most of the archaeological evidence we have from Wales is mainly focused on Bronze Age whales Roman Britain and the early Welsh Kingdom from 400 to 700 A.D there is very little for Viking settlements in Wales although that doesn't mean Vikings didn't settle in Wales they did and worked as Traders as an Irish Source mentions Welsh horses being traded yet slaves would be the most lucrative source of revenue for the Vikings before David was a part of the high bath in the 10th Century the kingdom had lost lands to karadigion around the 750s weakening it and making it ripe for raiding by the Vikings sailing around the Irish sea in the next century the coastal city of Swansea is an interesting point for history about Vikings in Wales although we have no written record of Viking settlements in Swansea there are place names the lack of information on settlements can be attributed to the lack of funding for research and Archeology the document a research framework for the archeology of Wales explains the reasons to quote a small part of the entire document although a very small number of new early medieval sites including non-elite secular settlements has been identified and their potential confirmed owing to the lack of funding the only ones being investigated more extensively are those subject to developer funding returning to Vikings in dovid one place that saw plenty of attacks was the Cathedral of Saint David Dewey Sant one of the holiest places in Wales meant nothing to the Pagan Vikings the monastery at Saint Davids would be sacked plenty of times during the Viking age the attacks that occurred at St David were not always done by the Norse they would still attack the site and the surrounding area plenty of times over the course of the Viking age one notable raid in 999 A.D saw the Vikings kill the bishop of Saint David the killing of such a high-ranking bishop is Odd as the Norse would have made money ransoming the bishop one case of the Norse ransoming members of the clergy was in 914 a Viking Fleet with Norseman from South Wales and Dublin sailed into the Bristol Channel and kidnapped a group of clergyman the situation was resolved by King Edward of Wessex whose Army later drove out the Vikings from the Bristol channel the raids on Saint David took their toll as the site would be abandoned for several years in an ironic twist the Normans the French speaking Vikings who settled in Normandy France around the early 10th Century who then took over England in 1066 would be the one to protected and built the current Cathedral yet the Vikings would attack and Destroy plenty of monasteries in Wales the Ascension of who Eldar and the creation of the kingdom of tahai bath gave stability to Southwest Wales as the kingdoms under huel's rule would work together against any Norse attacks or raids the peace within his kingdoms must have been set as in 929 Who air left Wales for a pilgrimage to Rome the frequency of Viking attacks in his kingdom declined until his death in 950. the kingdoms unified under huel were independent again the fighting that followed between the Welsh kingdoms over the course of the next decades left the kingdoms and Wales open to Viking attacks once again with sporadic raids over the next decades even when the power of the high bath was recreated by King maradid after his conquest of Gwyneth the Vikings still raided heavily into Wales up until the high Middle Ages and certainly had an impact on Welsh history helping to forge the tales of some of the great Kings of Wales whose history we will explore next when it comes to identifying whether an early medieval Welsh King was great or had a significant impact on Welsh history through advancements in laws Warfare or the further development of Welsh Society we can look for a specific title the king of the britons as this title is used by Chronicles to identify Welsh Kings who had achieved significant recognition as most early Welsh kings are simply names on a genealogical list there have been several Kings of the britons some historical like rodri the great or legendary for example Brutus of Troy or King Arthur in this long series on early medieval Wales we've already covered several kings that were described as such from cadwallan's conquest of northumbria to the heroic exploits of Ambrosius aurelianus but as we've been exploring these historical figures and others such as the Saints we've been steadily moving towards the end of the Early Middle Ages to the high Middle Ages in 1000 A.D as we started from the withdrawal of the Romans from Albion to the Vikings in Wales from the start of the 8th century and during that period we briefly looked at some of the great Kings of Wales and how they doubt with the Viking raids and settlements from this point of 850 to 999 A.D we have four great Kings of Wales to cover and the final ones Reign conveniently ends in 999 A.D the last year of the Early Middle Ages rodery the great we've already shown rodery's fight with the Vikings and how his victory over the black Gentiles gained him Fame and Prestige the annals of Ulster an Irish Source mentions rodery in their Chronicles in the year 856 A.D Holm chief of the dark foreigners was killed by rodri son of Mervin king of Wales the annals mentioned rodery again in 877 A.D rodery son of Mervin King of the britons came in flight from the dark foreigners to Ireland rotary is referred to not only as king of the britons but also as king of Wales this is the first time a Welsh ruler is called this title at the height of rodri's power he would control most of Wales although the unity was through rodri acquiring the Thrones from the death of his relatives powers in 856 after his uncle died in Exile in Rome then in 871 the kingdom of keredigion upon the death of his brother-in-law this Unity would be used as a blueprint for later Welsh Kings in building their own kingdoms and also give descendants of rodri a claim for the Thrones of other Welsh kingdoms although information on Roger's life is limited the fact that he is mentioned in Chronicles not native to Wales is a testament to his achievements that we know about especially against the Vikings as during this period there were not many kings in Albion that could boast they defeated the Vikings to the degree rodery had while the victory over the Vikings brought rodery and increased power to project over Wales it did strike fear into other Welsh kings in the south of Wales particularly David and brackeniog as during rodri's successes Reign these smaller kingdoms would seek the protection of Alfred King of Wessex showing rodri had built a solid power base for his successors to use by 865 rodri had to contend with an old enemy of Wales the kingdom of Mercia as their King launched raids into rodery's territory around Anglesey but the hey days of mercy and power were gone and the arrival of the arguably best-named army ever the great Heathen Army invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms forcing the mercian king to return home this new wave of Viking invasions would see rotary forced out of gwenith and exiled in Ireland in 877 for a short time before returning yet rodri would die in battle in 878 the Welsh annual state rodery and his son gaudiad is killed by the Saxons the annals of Ulster State rodri son of Mervin King of the britons was killed by the Saxons and a roared app rodery one of the many sons of rodri the great Anna Rod inherited Gwyneth while powers and caridigion went to his two brothers several different Chronicles mentioned many sons of rodery yet the Welsh Chronicles only mentioned four while Assa the biographer of King Alfred of Wessex mentioned six of which Assa is the earliest source to mention the brothers although he fails to name them we should not be surprised as a lack of information on the time period is a recurring theme in this series moving on what's interesting about Anna Rod's Reign is that not only do we have information on his struggles against the Vikings but also that he was in the midst of a diplomatic flurry between different parties as there were new Viking Kingdoms in the north of England and with the English Kingdom of Wessex now protecting the smaller Welsh Kingdoms in the South not just from the brothers but also from Murcia Anna Rod sought an alliance with the Viking Kingdom of York around the 880s whilst working with his brothers the details on which the brothers shared power or worked in cohesion with each other is unclear from the Welsh annals it implied they worked together as one whereas Gerald and Wales A chronicler from the 12th century mentions the brothers divided the lands between themselves regardless the alliance with the Pagan Vikings would not lead to a grand Coalition against Wessex and by the 890s just like the other Welsh Kings Anna roared sought an alliance with King Alfred yet his position was stronger than the other Welsh Kings as when he met Alfred he was given a high King's welcome lavished with gifts and praise after all these two men were the strongest Christian monarchs in southern Albion and uniting against the Pagan War band of Norseman seeking to conquer would ensure better success at defending Their Kingdoms Alfred King of Wessex was now Overlord of the Welsh kingdoms but the details on what kind of arrangement Alfred had with the Welsh are lost to us the notion of a king of Wessex and later Kings of England having Overlord ship over Wales would have dire consequences for the Welsh in the future with the kingdoms of Wales in League with Wessex and its allies protection from Norse attacks would be easier to defend yet Ana Roar took to using his new ally strength to raid his rivals in South Wales from the annals of Wales Anna roared came with the Angles and laid waste caridigion and usstrad tawi why Alfred turned a blind eye to his newest Ally raiding the smaller Welsh kingdoms who had sought Alfred protection in the first place is Up For Debate in 905 the kings of dovid had died out as their last king passed away in 904. the deceased King's brother sought to succeed him but was beheaded in 905. this left dovid vulnerable Anna Road and his brother invadedesh's air ql then became king that's one story of how David was taken by The Heirs of rodery the other tale is at huuel married the only surviving daughter of the king of dovid huel would inherit his father's Kingdom in 9 10. there are no reported conflicts between Anna Roald and his nephew in 916 Anna Roar died with the title of King of the britons being bestowed upon him by the Welsh annals Anna Rod King of the britons dies Shu Al da grandson of rodri the great hughal carried on his family's Legacy of both king of Wales and King of the britons he was also the founder of a new kingdom in Wales the high bath consisting of David caridigion and later in 930 the minor Kingdom of bricaniog fuel is a unique early medieval Welsh King as due to his continued alliance with the Kingdom of Wessex and later the kingdom of England he had access to a mint in Chester creating his own silver coinage the first Welsh King to do so he was also a spiritual and Pious King traveling to Rome as a pilgrim a rare feat as the journey would have taken months implying that his kingdom was safe for the trip in 928 A.D later sources even go on to state that huuel made a return trip to Rome to get his laws blessed by the Pope ql is famous for not only being granted the title of king of Wales and King of the britons but also his legacy in the laws of Wales being connected to his Reign the tale of how the laws were codified is that huuel and the Leading Men of learning in his kingdoms gathered at Whitland in South Wales these laws already existed centuries before huawe's Reign this Council was certifying them into legal customs these laws covered a wide range of social economical and Justice as well as laws for people of different ranks in Welsh Society there were three types of classes in Early Middle Ages Welsh Society the free men which included the king these men had ownership of lands and livestock next were the unfree people or subject people and the last class with absolutely no rights were the slaves for foreign people living in Wales they were classed under as asted these laws represented the development of the Welsh language and the culture during the Early Middle Ages in Wales the existing manuscripts we have detailing the laws are dated from the 13th century onwards with the earliest Copy being in Latin although other copies are written both in Latin and Welsh there exists 42 copies of the laws with 36 written in Welsh and the other six in Latin huawe's title of the good like most titles is attributed to historical figures at a later date the same is true for him the Welsh annals call him the good but the annals were comprised years after his death his title is most likely given through his cataloging of Welsh laws as during his Reign the kingdoms under his rule prospered the attacks from the Vikings during qao's Reign were limited as we have no records of them attacking Welsh kingdoms even the kingdom of the English never attacked the Welsh during this time huel kept to his predecessor's agreements with the English this attitude was not shared by all Welsh folk a poem written in the 930s called for all native people of Albion and Ireland to unite and drive out the Saxons with one line regarding the English how it is that they do not burst forth because of the Dominion of the English and their boasting during two hours later Reign he acquired the kingdom of gwenith in 942 upon the death of his cousin who sought to break free from any agreement with the English yet he met his death in battle and huel took advantage and conquered the kingdom making him now the Undisputed master of Wales with only the small kingdoms of gwent and glowissing not under his control hughal died in 950 and he certainly earned the title of king of Wales and King of the britons as he followed his grandfather in being named king of Wales from an abroad Chronicle the annals of Ulster huwal king of Wales dies Mara did app or wine grandson of fuel our final great king of Wales married its claim to the title of king of Wales comes from his territorial Conquest as after the death of his grandfather the Kingdom's ql accumulated went to different branches of his family with Gwyneth and powis returning to huell's Uncle Anna Rod's line maradid's Reign also saw the rise in Viking attacks upon Wales and diplomatic relations with the kings of the English breaking down so much so that Mara did even tried the Folly of allying with the Norsemen of Dublin this Alliance didn't work out but despite this turbulent time in Wales Mala did managed to recreate his grandfather's Legacy of most of Wales under one king he acquired the high bath upon the death of his father an elder brother in 986 showing far more aggression than his grandfather as he invaded Gwyneth and killed his distant cousin in the same year yet the attacks by the Norsemen pushed him back to the high bath this was not the only threat as in 992 a claimant to the throne named Edwin with the backing of an English army invaded this attempt failed faced many threats to his power until his death in 999 A.D the chronicle of the princes is the chronicle that grants matter did the title of king of Wales with Meredith's death the Early Middle Ages in Wales ended the high Middle Ages would see the Welsh take on a familiar foe in a different guise in 1066 with the arrival of the Normans after their conquest of England yet the high Middle Ages would see the whole of Wales United under one king for the very first time thank you all for watching and a big thank you to the vlogbrothers for supporting this Channel with the educational creators fund

Channel: Embrace historia

Views: 188,475

Keywords: Wales, welsh, history, Roman, Rome, Western Roman empire, Arthur, King Arthur, Magus maximus, history of wales, Historia Brittonum, Nennius, gwent, On the Ruin of Britain, education, doc, documentary, stories, legends, dragons, dragon, wondedraft, mount and blade warband, rome total war, attila total war, total war, bannerlords, mount and blade bannerlords, sony vegas, history of the uk, uk history, reddit, medieval Wales

Id: jBdD9sUXws8

Length: 112min 45sec (6765 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 20 2022