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Pre-Roman Welsh kingdoms or tribes. The modern Anglo-Welsh border is also shown.
Southern Wales and Southwestern England prior to the Roman invasion.
The kingdoms that emerged from Silurian territory following the Roman withdrawal were Glywysing, Gwent, and Ergyng.
Ergyng at the opening of the seventh century.
Ergyng at the opening of the eighth century.

Ergyng (or Erging) was a Welsh kingdom of the sub-Roman and early medieval period, between the 5th and 7th centuries. It was later referred to by the English as Archenfield.

The name

The name Ergyng first emerges onto the historical stage in the wake of the Roman departure from Britain, when it appears as a kingdom in the former territory of the pre-Roman Silures, along with the kingdoms of Glywysing and Gwent. Its phonetic similarity to the former Roman town of Ariconium implies a connection, and since Roman custom was to name towns after the local inhabitants, it may be assumed (without solid foundation) that the name of the town referred to the people who were then living in that place. The name survives to the present day as the southern Herefordshire area of Archenfield, which was once a part of the Kingdom of Ergyng.

In modern Welsh it is properly spelled Erging, and the spelling has varied in historical references, to include Ercing, Ergic, and Ercic. It is spelled a variety of ways in the Book of Llandaff, including Ergin and Ercicg.[1] The Historia Brittonum of Nennius spells it Erging[2] and Geoffrey of Monmouth refers to it as Hergin.[3]

The name Archenfield has similarly undergone a variety of spellings, including Urchenfield and Irchenfield. One source claimed that its etymological origin was from the name Ircingafeld, described as an Anglo-Saxon compound of ircinga (of hedgehogs) and feld (field).[4]

Location

The kingdom lay mostly in what is now western Herefordshire in England, its heartland between the River Monnow and River Wye. However, it also spread into modern Monmouthshire and east of the Wye, where sits the old Roman town of Ariconium (Welsh: Din Aricon) at Weston under Penyard from which its name may derive; it may have been the first capital. Some maps[5] show Ergyng extending across what is now the Forest of Dean to the River Severn.

Monarchy

After the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain in 410 AD, new smaller political entities took the place of the centralised structure. The area was originally part of the Kingdom of Glywysing (modern Glamorgan) and Gwent, but seems to have become independent for a period under Gwrfoddw Hen in the late 5th century[6], and again under King Peibio Clafrog in the mid-6th century. Peibio was the grandfather of Saint Dubricius or Dyfrig, the first Bishop of Ergyng and an important figure in the establishment of Christianity in South Wales. He founded large teaching monasteries at Llanfrother near Hoarwithy and at Moccas, and a bishopric seems to have been based at St Constantine's Church at Goodrich.[7]

Dubricius' cousin, Gwrgan Fawr (the Great) was one of its most important monarchs and may have obtained sway over Glamorgan as far as the River Neath. In the middle of the 7th century, Onbraust of Ergyng married Meurig of Gwent, and their son Athrwys became king of both kingdoms. Ergyng eventually became a mere cantref, the Welsh equivalent of a hundred.[7]

Later history

See also Archenfield

By the 8th century, the expanding power of Mercia led to conflict with the native British, and by the 9th century the Mercians had gained control over the area and nearby Hereford. The sites of old British churches fell to Mercia, and the British became foreigners - or, in the English language, "Welsh" - in what had been their own land.[8] The rump of Ergyng then became known to the English as Arcenefelde or Archenfield. Although its Welsh-speaking inhabitants retained special rights, the area was unequivocally incorporated into England in the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542.

References

Explanatory notes

Citations

  1. ^ Rees 1840 The Book of Llandaff
  2. ^ Nennius 1819:146, 170 Historia Britonnum page 146
  3. ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth 1842:147 History of the Britons, Chapter II – a passing reference in the story of Aurelius Ambrosius' pursuit of Vortegirn.
  4. ^ Bosworth, Joseph (1838), "Ircingafeld", A Dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon Language, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, p. 205{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ Map of Later Cymru (Wales)
  6. ^ Ergyng at The History Files
  7. ^ a b Hereford.uk.com - Herefordshire History
  8. ^ Archenfield Archaeology - Who we are

Bibliography


  • Ergyng (or Erging) not mentioned by Ussher (in either vol V or VI)
  • Bede ?
  • Gildas ?


  • Wendy Davies. (1979). The Llandaff Charters.
  • Wendy Davies (1982). Wales in the Early Middle Ages.
  • G. H. Doble. (1971). Lives of the Welsh Saints.
  • John Morris. (1973). The Age of Arthur.
  • Raymond Perry. (2002). Anglo-Saxon Herefordshire.
  • A. L. F. Rivet & Colin Smith (1979). The Place-Names of Roman Britain.
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