Kingdom of Powys
The Kingdom of Powys was a Welsh successor state, petty kingdom and principality that emerged during the Middle Ages following the end of Roman rule in Britain. It roughly covered the top two thirds of the modern county of Powys and part of the West Midlands. More and based on the Romano-British tribal lands of the Ordovices in the west and the Cornovii in the east, its boundaries extended from the Cambrian Mountains in the west to include the modern West Midlands region of England in the east; the fertile river valleys of the Severn and Tern are found here, this region is referred to in Welsh literature as "the Paradise of Powys". The name Powys is thought to derive from Latin pagus'the countryside' and pagenses'dwellers in the countryside' the origins of French "pays" and English "peasant". During the Roman Empire, this region was organised into a Roman province, with the capital at Viroconium Cornoviorum, the fourth-largest Roman city in Britain. An entry in the Annales Cambriae concerning the death of King Cadell ap Brochfael says that the land called Powys was known as Teyrnllwg.
Throughout the Early Middle Ages, Powys was ruled by the Gwerthrynion dynasty, a family claiming descent jointly from the marriage of Vortigern and Princess Sevira, the daughter of Magnus Maximus. Archaeological evidence has shown that, unusually for the post-Roman period, Viroconium Cornoviorum survived as an urban centre well into the 6th century and thus could have been the Powys capital; the Historia Brittonum, written around AD 828, records the town as Caer Guricon, one of his "28 British Towns" of Roman Britain. In the following centuries, the Powys eastern border was encroached upon by English settlers from the emerging Anglian territory of Mercia; this was a gradual process, English control in the West Midlands was uncertain until the late 8th century. In 549 the Plague of Justinian - an outbreak of a strain of bubonic plague - arrived in Britain, Welsh communities were devastated, with villages and countryside alike depopulated. However, the English were less affected by this plague as they had far fewer trading contacts with the continent at this time.
Faced with shrinking manpower and increasing Anglian encroachment, King Brochwel Ysgithrog may have moved the court from Caer Guricon to Pengwern, the exact site of, unknown but may have been at Shrewsbury, traditionally associated with Pengwern, or the more defensible Din Gwrygon, the hill fort on The Wrekin. In 616, the armies of Æthelfrith of Northumbria clashed with Powys. Seeing an opportunity to further drive a wedge between the North Welsh and those of Rheged, Æthelfrith invaded Powys' northern lands. Æthelfrith defeated Selyf and his allies. At the commencement of the battle, Bede tells us that the pagan Æthelfrith slaughtered 1200 monks from the important monastery of Bangor-on-Dee in Maelor because, he said, "they fight against us, because they oppose us by their prayers". Selyf ap Cynan was killed in the battle and may have been the first of the kings of Powys to be buried at the church dedicated to St. Tysilio, at Meifod, thence known as the Eglwys Tysilio and subsequently the dynasty's Royal mausoleum.
If King Cynddylan of Pengwern hailed from the royal Powys dynasty forces from Powys may have been present at the Battle of Maes Cogwy in 642. According to the ninth-century cycle of englyn-poems Canu Heledd, the region around Pengwern was sacked soon after, its royal family slaughtered and most of its lands were annexed by Mercia, some by Powys. However, this account is now thought to represent ninth-century imaginings of what must have been going on in the seventh, inspired by Powys's political situation in the ninth century. Powys enjoyed a resurgence with successful campaigns against the English in 655, 705-707 and 722, wrote Davies; the court was moved to Mathrafal Castle in the valley of the river Vyrnwy by 717 by king Elisedd ap Gwylog. Elisedd's successes led King Æthelbald of Mercia to build Wat's Dyke; this endeavour may have been with Elisedd's own agreement, for this boundary, extending north from the Severn valley to the Dee estuary, gave Oswestry to Powys. King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultive initiative when he created a larger earth work, now known as Offa's Dyke.
Davies wrote of Cyril Fox's study of Offa's Dyke: In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan, the dyke veers to the east, leaving the fertile slopes in the hands of the Welsh, and for Gwent Offa had the dyke built "on the eastern crest of the gorge with the intention of recognizing that the river Wye and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of Gwent. This new border moved Oswestry back to the English side of the new frontier, Offa attacked Powys in 760 at Hereford, again on 778, 784 and 796. Offa's Dyke remained the frontier between the Welsh and English, though the Welsh would recover by the 12th century the area between the Dee and the River Conwy, known as the Perfeddwlad or "Midlands". Powys was united with Gwynedd when king Merfyn Frych of Gwynedd married princess Nest ferch Cadell, sister of king Cyngen of Powys, the last representative of the Gwertherion dynasty. With the death of Cyngen in 855 Rhodri the Great became king of Powys, having inherited Gwynedd the year before.
This formed the basis of Gwynedd's continued claims of overlordship over Powys for the next 443 years. Rhodri the Great ruled over most of modern Wales until his death in 878, his sons would in t
Hegemony
Hegemony is the political, economic, or military predominance or control of one state over others. In ancient Greece, hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of a city-state over other city-states; the dominant state is known as the hegemon. In the 19th century, hegemony came to denote the "Social or cultural ascendancy, it could be used to mean "a group or regime which exerts undue influence within a society". It could be used for the geopolitical and the cultural predominance of one country over others, from, derived hegemonism, as in the idea that the Great Powers meant to establish European hegemony over Asia and Africa. In international relations theory, hegemony denotes a situation of great material asymmetry in favour of one state, who has enough military power to systematically defeat any potential contester in the system, controls the access to raw materials, natural resources and markets, has competitive advantages in the production of value added goods, generates an accepted ideology reflecting this status quo.
The Marxist theory of cultural hegemony, associated with Antonio Gramsci, is the idea that the ruling class can manipulate the value system and mores of a society, so that their view becomes the world view: in Terry Eagleton's words, "Gramsci uses the word hegemony to mean the ways in which a governing power wins consent to its rule from those it subjugates". In contrast to authoritarian rule, cultural hegemony "is hegemonic only if those affected by it consent to and struggle over its common sense". In cultural imperialism, the leader state dictates the internal politics and the societal character of the subordinate states that constitute the hegemonic sphere of influence, either by an internal, sponsored government or by an external, installed government. From the post-classical Latin word hegemonia from the Greek word ἡγεμονία hēgemonía, meaning "authority, political supremacy", related to the word ἡγεμών hēgemōn "leader". In the Greco–Roman world of 5th century BC European classical antiquity, the city-state of Sparta was the hegemon of the Peloponnesian League and King Philip II of Macedon was the hegemon of the League of Corinth in 337 BC.
The role of Athens within the short-lived Delian League was that of a "hegemon". Ancient historians such as Xenophon and Ephorus were the first who used the term in its modern sense. In Ancient East Asia, Chinese hegemony existed during the Spring and Autumn period, when the weakened rule of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty led to the relative autonomy of the Five Hegemons, they were appointed by feudal lord conferences, thus were nominally obliged to uphold the imperium of the Zhou Dynasty over the subordinate states. 1st and 2nd century Europe was dominated by the hegemonic peace of the Pax Romana. It was instituted by the emperor Augustus, was accompanied by a series of brutal military campaigns. From the 7th century to the 12th century, the Umayyad Caliphate and Abbasid Caliphate dominated the vast territories they governed, with other states like the Byzantine Empire paying tribute. In 7th century India, ruler of a large empire in northern India from AD 606 to 647, brought most of the north under his hegemony.
He preferred not to rule as a central government, but left "conquered kings on their thrones and contenting himself with tribute and homage."From the late 9th to the early 11th century, the empire developed by Charlemagne achieved hegemony in Europe, with dominance over France and Burgundy. During the 14th century, the Crown of Aragon became the hegemon in the Mediterranean Sea. In The Politics of International Political Economy, Jayantha Jayman writes "If we consider the Western dominated global system from as early as the 15th century, there have been several hegemonic powers and contenders that have attempted to create the world order in their own images." He lists several contenders for historical hegemony. Portugal 1494 to 1580. Based on Portugal's dominance in navigation. Spain 1516 to 1659. Based on the Spanish dominance of the European battlefields and the global exploration and colonization of the New World; the Netherlands 1580 to 1688. Based on Dutch control of credit and money. Britain 1688 to 1792.
Based on British textiles and command of the high seas. Britain 1815 to 1914. Based on British industrial supremacy and railroads. Phillip IV tried to restore the Habsburg dominance but, by the middle of the 17th century "Spain's pretensions to hegemony had and irremediably failed."In late 16th and 17th-century Holland, the Dutch Republic's mercantilist dominion was an early instance of commercial hegemony, made feasible with the development of wind power for the efficient production and delivery of goods and services. This, in turn, made possible the Amsterdam stock concomitant dominance of world trade. In France, King Louis XIV and Napoleon I attempted French true hegemony via economic and military domin
Tegeingl
Tegeingl, in English. It was incorporated into Flintshire following Edward I of England's conquest of northern Wales in the 13th century; the region's name was derived from the Deceangli, an Iron Age Celtic tribe which had inhabited the region and attested since the 1st century BC. The cantref formed the eastern part of Perfeddwlad on the northern coast of Wales between the River Clwyd and Deeside; the territory is equivalent to the modern county of Flintshire today. Comprising the three commotes of Rhuddlan and Coleshill, the territory formed part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd until, in the late 8th century, it was conquered by the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia, it remained under Mercian control for over three centuries until Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd recovered it in the 12th century. Edwin of Tegeingl was in the 11th century described as "lord" or "prince" of Tegeingl, he was succeeded as lord of Tegeingl by his son Owain who supported the Anglo-Normans' invasion of North Wales in the 1090s. The family remained powerful in North Wales until Owain's sons were killed in 1125 by a son of Gruffudd ap Cynan, Prince of Gwynedd.
It changed hands several times between England and Gwynedd, but was seized by Edward I as part of his conquest of the Principality of Wales between 1277 and 1283. It was incorporated into the county of Flintshire by the Statute of Rhuddlan
Mochnant
Mochnant, a name translating as "the rapid stream", was a medieval cantref in the Kingdom of Powys. In the 12th century it was divided into the commotes of Mochnant Is Rhaeadr and Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr, its north-west border was with the cantref of Penllyn in Powys but which became annexed to the Kingdom of Gwynedd during the time of Owain Brogyntyn. It bordered the cantrefi of Caereinion and Mechain to the south, Maelor to the north-east; the administrative centre was Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in Mochnant Is Rhaeadr. After the death of Madog ap Maredudd and his eldest son and heir in 1160, the kingdom was divided up between his surviving sons Gruffydd Maelor, Owain Fychan and Owain Brogyntyn, his nephew Owain Cyfeiliog and his half-brother Iorwerth Goch. Mochnant was given to Iorwerth Goch, but in 1166 he was ejected by Owain Cyfeiliog and Owain Fychan, who took control of Mochnant Uwch Rhaedr and Mochnant Is Rhaedr respectively: Iorwerth established himself in the Ceiriog Valley, becoming the castellan of Chirk.
The northern part of Powys, including Mochnant Is Rhaeadr became Powys Fadog. Following Edward I's conquest of Wales, Mochnant Is Rhaeadr become part of the Marcher Lordship of Chirk, but Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr remained under Welsh rule. Mochnant Is Rhaeadr was in Denbighshire, while Mochnant Uwch Rhaeadr was in Montgomeryshire; the name survives in the placename Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, this village had the ancient commote's ecclesiastical centre at the church of St Dogfan.
Edeirnion
Edeirnion or Edeyrnion is an area of the county of Denbighshire and an ancient commote of medieval Wales in the cantref of Penllyn. According to tradition, it was named after Edeyrn, it was included as a Welsh territory of Shropshire in the Domesday Book. Edeirnion was nominally a part of the Kingdom of Powys but was subject to border intrusions by the neighbouring Kingdom of Gwynedd, it was the patrimony of Owain Brogyntyn. These rumbling border disputes caused a great deal of friction between the two realms. Edeirnion was occupied and annexed by Gwynedd in the reign of Llywelyn the Great but returned to Powys following a treaty forced on Gwynedd by England after Llywelyn's death in 1240; the territory was again occupied by Gwynedd after 1267 before being returned again to Powys. This continuing dispute and the appeal by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd to Edward I of England to see the resolution of this dispute settled by Welsh Law was one of the reasons the principalities in the north of Wales were unable to unite in opposition to English hegemony and was a contributing factor to the final war between the Principality of Wales and England, which saw the end of Welsh independence.
Edeirnion still exists as a bro, or region, in Denbighshire, located around Corwen and near the Berwyn Range. Edeirnion Rural District was created under the Local Government Act 1894 from that part of Corwen Rural Sanitary District, in the former administrative county of Merionethshire, it covered 47,460 acres. In 1901 it had a population of 5,132, which had fallen to 3,925 by 1961, it was the only part of Merionethshire not included in the Meirionnydd District of Gwynedd. In 1996 Edeirnion became part of Denbighshire
Cyfeiliog
Cyfeiliog was a medieval commote in the cantref of Cynan of the Kingdom of Powys. Cynan contained the commote of Mawddwy. Other sources refer to Cyfeiliog as a cantref in its own right as a result of Cynan being renamed for the largest commote within it, it bordered the cantrefi of Penllyn in the north, Caereinion in the east and Arwystli in the south-east. Its border in the north-east was with the cantref of Meirionydd in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, its south-east border was with the cantref of Penweddig in the Kingdom of Ceredigion. After the death of Madog ap Maredudd, the last Prince of the whole of Powys, his eldest son and heir in 1160, the kingdom was divided up between his surviving sons Gruffydd Maelor, Owain Fychan and Owain Brogyntyn, his nephew Owain Cyfeiliog and his half-brother Iorwerth Goch. Cyfeiliog was inherited by Owain Cyfeiliog, he joined the Welsh alliance under Owain Gwynedd to resist the invasion of Henry II in 1165, but he changed his allegiance and gained control over a much larger area in the south of Powys, in particular by acquiring the territories of Iorwerth Goch and Owain Fychan.
He passed his territories to his son Gwenwynwyn ap Owain in 1195 and they became known as Powys Wenwynwyn
Kingdom of Gwynedd
The Principality or Kingdom of Gwynedd was a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. Based in northwest Wales, the rulers of Gwynedd rose to dominance and were acclaimed as "King of the Britons" before losing their power in civil wars or invasions; the kingdom of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn—the King of Wales from 1055 to 1063—was shattered by a Saxon invasion in 1063 just prior to the Norman invasion of Wales, but the House of Aberffraw restored by Gruffudd ap Cynan recovered and Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was able to proclaim the Principality of Wales at the Aberdyfi gathering of Welsh princes in 1216. In 1277, the Treaty of Aberconwy granted peace between the two but would guarantee that Welsh self-rule would end upon Llewelyn's death, so it represented the completion of the first stage of the conquest of Wales by Edward I. Welsh tradition credited the founding of Gwynedd to the Brittonic polity of Gododdin from Lothian invading the lands of the Brittonic polities of the Deceangli and Gangani in the 5th century.
The sons of their leader, were said to have possessed the land between the rivers Dee and Teifi. The true borders of the realm varied over time, but Gwynedd Proper was thought to comprise the cantrefs of Aberffraw and Cantref Rhosyr on Anglesey and Arllechwedd, Dunoding, Dyffryn Clwyd, Llŷn, Rhos and Tegeingl at the mountainous mainland region of Snowdonia opposite; the name Gwynedd is believed to be an early borrowing from Irish, either cognate with the Old Irish ethnic name Féni, "Irish People", from Primitive Irish *weidh-n- "Forest People"/"Wild People", or Old Irish fían "war band", from Proto-Irish *wēnā. The 5th-century Cantiorix Inscription now in Penmachno church seems to be the earliest record of the name, it is in memory of a man named Cantiorix, the Latin inscription is Cantiorix hic iacit/Venedotis cives fuit/consobrinos Magli magistrati: "Cantiorix lies here. He was a citizen of Gwynedd and a cousin of Maglos the magistrate"; the use of terms such as "citizen" and "magistrate" may be cited as evidence that Romano-British culture and institutions continued in Gwynedd long after the legions had withdrawn.
Ptolemy marks the Llŷn Peninsula as the "Promontory of the Gangani", a name he recorded in Ireland. In the late and post-Roman eras, Irish from Leinster may have arrived in Anglesey and elsewhere in northwest Wales, with the name Llŷn derived from Laigin, an Old Irish form that means "of Leinster"; the region became known as Venedotia in Latin. The name was attributed to a specific Irish colony on Anglesey, but broadened to refer to Irish settlers as a whole in North Wales by the 5th century. According to 9th century monk and chronicler Nennius, North Wales was left defenseless by the Roman withdrawal and subject to increasing raids by marauders from the Isle of Man and Ireland, a situation which led Cunedda, his sons and their entourage, to migrate in the mid-5th century from Manaw Gododdin to settle and defend North Wales against the raiders and bring the region within Romano-British control. According to traditional pedigrees, Cunedda's grandfather was Padarn Beisrudd, Paternus of the red cloak, "an epithet which suggests that he wore the cloak of a Roman officer", according to Davies.
Nennius recounts how Cunedda brought order to North Wales and after his death Gwynedd was divided among his sons: Dynod was awarded Dunoding, another son Ceredig received Ceredigion, so forth. However, this overly neat origin myth has been met with skepticism: Early Welsh literature contains a wealth of stories seeking to explain place-names, doubtless the story is propaganda aimed at justifying the right of Cunedda and his descendants to territories beyond the borders of the original Kingdom of Gwynedd; that kingdom consisted of the two banks of the Menai Straits and the coast over towards the estuary of the river Conwy, the foundations upon which Cunedda's descendants created a more extensive realm. Undoubtedly, a Brittonic leader of substance established himself in North Wales, he and his descendants defeated any remaining Irish presence, incorporated the settlements into their domain and reoriented the whole of Gwynedd into a Romano-British and "Welsh" outlook; the Welsh of Gwynedd remained conscious of their Romano-British heritage, an affinity with Rome survived long after the Empire retreated from Britain with the use of Latin in writing and sustaining the Christian religion.
The Welsh ruling classes continued to emphasize Roman ancestors within their pedigrees as a way to link their rule with the old imperial Roman order, suggesting stability and continuity with that old order. According to Professor John Davies, "here is a determinedly Brythonic, indeed Roman, air to early Gwynedd." So palpable was the Roman heritage felt that Professor Bryan Ward-Perkins of Trinity College, wrote "It took until 1282, when Edward I conquered Gwynedd, for the last part of Roman Britain to fall a strong case can be made for Gwynedd as the last part of the entire Roman Empire and west, to fall to the barbarians." There was quick abandonment of Roman political and ecclesiastical practices and institutions within Gwynedd and elsewhere in Wales. Roman knowledge was lost as the Romano-Britons shifted towards a streamlined militaristic near-tribal society that no longer
