Aber History Part 2: Invaders from the North

Rome was falling, the legions were forced to give the isle up in order to protect the Capitol and its more accessible territories from tribal invaders on the main land.  Only a few true citizens of the Empire remained on the island.  In fact, around the year 430 Wales was aided by one of these Roman-British officials that had remained.  

While there were already established settlements of tribes from Ireland in the Southwest of Wales, groups of Irish tribesman were coming from the western island on the coast to raid the villages on the coast for plunder and slaves.  Eventually, the Roman-British official, Cunedda, came from South-eastern Scotland, where he had taken up rule, with his eight sons and his warriors to drive the Irish away.  His land, including North and Mid Wales, was split between his eight sons upon his death bed: the land controlled by his son, Ceredig ap Cunedda, is the land now known as Ceredigion, the county that Aberystwyth can be found in.

Ceredig ap Cunedda

Just after this period of raiding, in 441, the immigration that began to piece together the motley genetic landscape of the modern U.K started.  As the Huns pressed into Eastern Europe, tribes fled west, shipping the likes of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians to Britannia's shore over the next 150 years.  In this period the Angles take control of Northern England, and form the kingdom of Northumbria, and the Saxons conquer the South, they established a main colony in the region of Essex.  In fact, the Saxons were the ones to overrule the Roman-Britains completely in 490, and in the 6th century Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were established, including Mercia and Wessex.

The kingdoms as divided in this period.

While new tribes and turmoil are shifting in the land over the mountains, St. Padarn arrived in Llanbadarn from Brittany and established a monastery in the area just east of Aberystwyth in 516.  He stayed in the area for 21 years, and the monastery he built was the most significant settlement in the area for 600 years.  

In the late eighth century Offa, king of Mercia, controlled most of England, and also campaigned against the Welsh.  According to the monk Asser, Offa built a dyke between his kingdom and that of the Welsh kingdom, Powys, "from sea to sea" (evidence suggests it was truly only 2/3 that length, ending 8 km inland in the north and 80 km inland in the south).  It is not sure that this dyke was actually built by Offa, or what it was even for, but it does look as if the barrier is meant to keep the Welsh out, all while commanding views into the land itself for scouting and security purposes.  In comparison to other projects completed in this preliterate Britain, including Stonehenge, it is considered the largest construction: it, indeed, suggests that the leader who built it had immense resources at his disposal.  

A map of Britannia in 802, showing Offa's Dyke along the Welsh border

In 787, Viking raids begin on the British Isles, and in 866, the Danes conquer the kingdoms of Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia.  To add to the political turmoil of the period, King Rhodri, king of Gwynedd (North Wales), dies in 878 and infighting begins over the splitting of his land between his three sons, causing the kingdoms to be unable to repel the attacks of the Normans, Saxons, and Danes.  Meanwhile the Saxons of Essex and the Danes in West England were battling in England, but King Alfred defeats the Danish invaders at the Battle of Edington.  30 years later, in 910, Edward the Elder of the Anglo-Saxons, defeats the Danes in southeastern England and takes London and Oxford.  

Edward the Elder, King of Wessex, 899-924

The next kingdom to take the limelight was the kingdom of Essex.  First, in 937, Athelstan of Essex defeats the North Welsh, Scots, and Norse at the Battle of Brunanburh.  Then, in 954, King Eadred unites England entirely, under the Essex banner.  The kingdom of England was not dubbed so until Edgar of Essex was crowned in 973.  This kingdom would survive the almost constant raids from the Irish, Scandinavians, and Danes for 30 years, even if for a good portion of this period was protected by the Vikings Danegeld (protective tariff) until 1013.

The Welsh were not beyond the reach of the Danes, and in 988 the Vikings attacked and destroyed Llanbadarn.  Meredith, Prince of Wales, because of the destruction, was forced to compound with them and pay the Glwmaen, or "tribute of the black army", which forced a penny for every man in his dominions to be payed as the price for protection against further raids.

In 1013, Vikings forced their way into the full leadership of England. Swegn Haraldsson Forkbeard of Denmark thought that it would be easier to base himself in England than to sail back and forth in order to continue to collect his protective tributes from the English, and Welsh.  To legitimize his tariff, he overthrew the then king of England, King Aethereid and made himself King of England.  Then came his son Cnut, or Canute, who ruled Denmark, Norway, Parts of Sweden, and England.  He divided England into 4 earledoms in order to make his burden lighter.  After Canute's death the kingdom in England began to fragment.  His son Harold ruled until 1040, and in 1039 one of his armies was defeated by Gruffydd ap Llwelyn of North Wales at Rhyd y Groes.

Cnut the Great, Canute the Holy, 1018-1035

Gruffydd ap Llwelyn wasn't finished with his conquest.  He pushed down into Ceredigion, ravaging Llanbadarn Fawr.  He appears to have had control over this area until his death in 1063.  

Anglo-Saxon rule was reestablished to the throne of England in 1042 after the death of Cnut II (half-brother of Harold) by Edward, son of King Aethereid. 

Then there is 1066 CE.  The date the Normans invaded.  The date that the language of England went from the ancient Gaelic to the flowing Latinized English which we now speak. William the First becomes king, bringing with him the desire to conquer and unite the whole of Britannia. 20 years after the initial conquest, the Domesday Book is commissioned to survey the lands of Britain.  In this early 20 year period of the Norman conquest, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger Montgomery, leads devastating raids into the region of Ceredigion.  Focus turns to Wales as this campaign continues and the known history of the are becomes fleshed out in the years during and following.  

Only a portion of the Bayeux Tapestry, which is almost 70 metres long, and depicts events that led up to the Norman Conquest by Duke William of Normandy.