Brochfael ap Meurig

Map of south-east Wales
Map of medieval south-east Wales, fifth to thirteenth centuries. The number "9" west of Gwent is listed in the map legend as Morgannwg, which superseded Glywysing as the name for the kingdom at the end of the tenth century.[1]

Brochfael ap Meurig[a] (ruled c. 872 – c. 910) was king of Gwent in south-east Wales. He ruled jointly with his brother, Ffernfael ap Meurig. Gwent and Glywysing, the neighbouring territory to the west, were ruled as a single kingdom in some periods; at other times they were separate and the king of Glywysing had the higher status. Brochfael's father, Meurig ab Arthfael, ruled both territories with the title King of Glywysing, but Brochfael and Ffernfael were only kings of Gwent, and had a lower status than their cousin Hywel ap Rhys, King of Glywysing.

The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia claimed dominion over most of Wales, but in the late 880s Brochfael, Ffernfael and Hywel submitted voluntarily to Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, in order to gain protection from the oppression of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians. A number of Brochfael's charters survive, mainly grants to Bishop Cyfeilliog and settlements of Brochfael's disputes with the bishop. Brochfael was the last of his line and was succeeded by Hywel's son, Owain ap Hywel.

  1. ^ Lloyd 1911, endpapers; Charles-Edwards 2013, pp. 14, 553.
  2. ^ Charles-Edwards 2013, p. 253.
  3. ^ Bartrum 1993, p. 60.
  4. ^ Haddan & Stubbs 1869, p. 207 n. iv.
  5. ^ Sims-Williams 2019, pp. 29–31.
  6. ^ Evans & Rhys 1893, p. 234.
  7. ^ Moore 1990, p. 13.


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