Hen Ogledd
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term meaning 'The Old North' and referring to the post-Roman Brittonic kingdoms located in what is now northern England (including Cumbria) and southern Scotland. Cumbric, a dialect of Brythonic closely related to Old Welsh, was the language of the Men of the North (Gwŷr y Gogledd in Welsh).[1]
These kingdoms flourished during the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries in the area south of the lands of the Picts. The people of these nations, and most often their kings, are referred to as the Gwŷr y Gogledd or 'Men of the North'. A series of Old Welsh pedigrees known as Bonhed Gwŷr y Gogleded yw Hyn appears to show the descent of many of these monarchs.[2] Most of them begin with a common ancestor, Coel Hen.
The names of some of these kingdoms and possible sub-kingdoms have been lost to history. Some of those that have survived are only known through a single reference. Known lands of the Hen Ogledd include:
- Aeron (Strath Eireann?)
- Manaw (or Manaw Gododdin)
- Din Eidyn (Edinburgh)
- Gododdin
- Strathclyde (Alt Clut/Ystrad Clud)
- Novant (Nouant)
- Rheged
- Argoed (South Rheged)
- Ebrauc (Efrog/York) (exact name uncertain)
- Bryneich
- Deifr
- Dent (Dunoting[3][4][5])
- Peak (or The Peak)
- Elmet (Elfed)
- Arfderydd
- Calchfynydd
- Caer Gwenddoleu
The pedigrees also include a confused version of the lineage of Áedán and Gabrán, rulers of the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata, among the Men of the North.[2]
The Brittonic states were all extinguished or brought under other kingdoms following successive takeovers from the 6th Century onwards by the Angles of Bernicia and Deira (which merged to become a unified kingdom of Northumbria), and by the Kingdom of the Picts which also absorbed Dál Riata, then united the two realms as the Kingdom of Alba. The earliest extant Welsh poetry, known as Hengerdd and represented by the works of Aneirin and Taliesin, was composed in Yr Hen Ogledd.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Kenneth Jackson, Language and History in Early Britain, p. 9-10
- ^ a b Bromwich, pp. 256–257.
- ^ Dunoting/Dunault (North Pennines), The History Files, http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/BritainDunoting.htm, retrieved on 2008-07-25 - not to be confused with the Dunoding sub-kingdom of Gwynnedd.
- ^ Ford, David Nash, Historical Chronology of Early British Kingdoms, Early British Kingdoms, http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kingdoms/496.html, retrieved on 2008-07-25
- ^ St. Deiniol Gwyn, Bishop of Bangor Fawr (c. AD 535-584), Britannia, http://www.britannia.com/bios/ebk/deinigpn.html, retrieved on 2008-07-25
[edit] References
- Bromwich, Rachel (2006). Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain. University Of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.
- Jackson, Kenneth: Language and History in Early Britain, Edinburgh University Press, 1953.
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