Kingdom of Morgannwg

Morgannwg was a kingdom in south-east Wales, in the area of the later county of Glamorgan. The name came into use at the end of the tenth century for the kingdom earlier called Glywysing, which had grown out of the Roman civitas of the Silures and the early medieval lordships of the region. For long periods in the ninth and tenth centuries the territory was divided between Glywysing in the west and Gwent in the east, with Glywysing generally regarded as the more important. Its rulers traced their descent from Glywys, and the dynasty produced kings such as Morgan Hen, after whom the kingdom was renamed, who fought and negotiated with Wessex and with the Norse and Hiberno-Norse raiders who harried the Bristol Channel. The kingdom was repeatedly attacked from the sea and from the English border, and its coast and valleys were raided by Vikings. The end came with the Norman advance into Wales: the last native king, Iestyn ap Gwrgan, ruled from 1081 and was deposed around 1091 by Robert Fitzhamon, who carved out the lordship of Glamorgan. Iestyn's sons were compensated with the lordship of Afan, while other Welsh lines survived in Gwynllwg and Caerleon. The name Morgannwg long outlived the kingdom as a label for the region.