Brycheiniog
This small kingdom was founded as an offshoot of the Irish Déisi kingdom of Dyfed.
It was centred on Garth Madryn in the modern Brecon Beacons with a chief settlement at Talgarth (or Talgar in the twelfth century), and it gained its name from that of its first independent king. Its territory in south-
The modern word 'Brecon' is the English version of Brycheiniog.
As mentioned, the kingdom was named after King Brychen, which was taken from the word 'briych', meaning 'freckled'. The '-
The kingdom's early capital was on a crannog at Llangorse, built by an Irish master builder to display the king's proud Irish heritage. Crannogs were unknown at this time outside Pictland (modern Scotland) or Ireland, and this is the only one of its kind in all of Wales. Luxury goods from around the world were imported here, and the kingdom's treasure was discovered in the waters around the crannog as recently as the 1970s. Unfortunately, the settlement was destroyed by an Anglo-
(Additional information by Edward Dawson, from A Study of Breconshire Place-
BRECON CATHEDRAL
The former Priory Church of St. John the Evangelist at Brecon, counted the finest ecclesiastical edifice in Wales with the exception of the cathedrals of St. David’s and Llandaff,
now ranks with them as a cathedral—that of the new diocese of Swansea and Brecon.
It was fitting that the bishop's throne should be installed in the church of Brecon instead of in huge, busy and not very attractive Swansea,
quite apart from the fact that at the town beneath the towering Brecknock Beacons there was a building not unworthy of cathedral rank, that is to say as far as pretensions go in Wales, whose cathedrals are on a modest scale.
Brecon, as a town, probably dates from the vith century or even earlier, but the name by which it is now known is no older than the xith century,
being in fact the appellative given by the Norman barons who at the prompting of William I. set themselves lo the conquest of South Wales.
Its Celtic name is Aberhonddu, but it has always been one of the chief towns of the principality of Brycheiniog, now known as Brecknockshire.
The early history of Wales is extremely obscure
and the extant records are little more than the reflections of tradition.
Except in the extreme south-
Situated as Wales was, it is likely enough that there was much cross-
The policy of Rome during the later period was decidedly to encourage settlements of warlike aliens within the bounds of the empire, and there is good reason to believe that this was the policy followed in Britain.
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There is therefore, in default of better evidence, no reason to question the Welsh tradition that Bry-
At the same time, Brychan had some kind of legal claim to rule the district in which his father had settled, since the latter had married a British woman, But in those wild days the only right respected ill Cambria was the right of the sword.
A great deal might be said about this founder of a local dynaniy which played its part in Welsh history for six centuries and more, but when so scholarly and painstaking an
The State of Brycheiniog
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historian as Mr. Lloyd calls him one of the most shadowy figures in the annals of the country, the English writer may be pardoned for sparing his words. The pedigree of the lords of Brycheiniog has come down in a corrupt form, and the sequence of names is not very certain. But it may be accepted as a proven fact that the state was really founded by, and named after, a chief named Brychan.
During the Dark Ages the principality appears as involved in the customary Welsh dynastic quarrels and almost endemic civil wars as well as in the perennial struggle with the English enemy to the eastward. In the v11th century there is mention of a prince of Brycheiniog named Awst (Augustus or Augustinus), showing that even yet the influence of Rome was faintly felt by the wild mountaineers of Wales. Its capital seems generally to have been Talgarth, not Aberhonddu.
There is a tradition that Brychan himself was born at the Roman station of Gaer, three miles from Brecon, which is now in course of excavation, but it would not be quite safe to accept this as a fact. The Kymric princes of Wales seem to have been as little addicted to establishing themselves within Roman walls as die English, In any case Gaer was quickly abandoned for Talgarth.
Brycheiniog might appear to be tolerably well pro-
to overcome Alfred. The raid on Brycheiniog was probably made by a foraging column, for Haesten was, in 896, being chased hither and thither by the tireless Alfred and his energetic comrade Aethelred of Mercia, and in the end was beaten out of England. But doubtless the horde of half-
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This was in 916; presumably Tewdwr had made one of those treaties with the Vikings which he and his fellows were too fond of concluding to their own confusion. But his action may have been due to mere restlessness.
At any rate he crossed the border, sacked a monastery, perhaps that at Hereford, and murdered the Abbot Ecgberht on 14th June. It was an ill thing to provoke the daughter of Alfred the Great. Within three days Aethelflaed had sent out her army and the capital of Brycheiniog was stormed.
Tewdwr himself seems to have escaped, but the victors carried off as hostages his wife and thirty-
Whether the captured capital was Aberhonddu or Talgarth is not known, but it seems probable that it was the latter place. Whether Aethelflaed led her forces in person or not, is unknown; the chronicle simply says that she sent out her soldiers. There
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is no doubt that this most remarkable woman did lead her army in the field, and if so, in 916 she may have been with the bands which came into the mountains of Brycheiniog to punish the murderers of Abbot Ecgberht.
Brycheiniog maintained its semi-
This was partly due to the troubles of England under Aethelred the Redeless .(commonly “the Unready”). Cnut's interests lay elsewhere than in Wales. Harold Godwinson was strong and determined, and it seems that it was really he who laid the plans for the conquest of South Wales which were taken up by William I.
In any case William had not been long on the throne before Norman lords began to press in upon the Welsh principalities. In 1081 William himself marched right through the country as far as St. David's. He was sufficiently politic and devout to pay his respects to the shrine of the Welsh saint, but his purposes were no doubt mundane and Rhys ap Tewdwr, the chief dynast in South Wales, agreed to pay a regular tribute.
The conquest of Brycheiniog was undertaken by Bernard de Neufmarche. His wife was Nest, the daughter of Osbern FitzRichard by a Welsh princess of the same name. He could thus put forth a kind of claim to the principality, though the barons of Normandy rarely troubled themselves about such matters
with them might was right. In 1093 he penetrated to Aberhonddu, and was beginning to build a castle when he was attacked at Eastertide by Rhys ap
Brecon Cathedral
Tewdwr, who came to make a last desperate attempt to stay the invading trickle before it should become a flood. Bernard, however, withstood the onslaught victoriously, and Prince Rhys himself fell in the battle. The Welsh chronicle mournfully says that with his death the kingdom of Wales was overthrown; and it is certain that the spasmodic efforts of the Welsh were never able to shake the hold of the invaders on Brycheiniog.
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Bernard de Neufmarche ruled his newly-
A Revengeful Bishop
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monks joined the rising community and presently, with the consent of Henry I., Bernard constituted the priory of Brecon as a cell of Battle Abbey, with Walter as its first superior.1
Bernard’s son Mahel quarrelled, rightly or wrongly, with his mother Nest, and was disinherited. The popular belief was that the lady was guilty of perjury. In any case Bernard’s heritage passed to his daughter Sybil, who was married to Miles of Gloucester.
The charter shows that when Baron Bernard gave the first endowment to Father Roger a church already existed upon the site. It was presumably a poor and rude construction of the ordinary Welsh type—very probably of wood—and was pulled down to make way for a stone edifice of worthier dimensions. Of this church some fragments survive in the walls of the nave near the western arch of the tower. The font is also of this date.
Early in the xiith century, following the example set elsewhere, Giles de Braose, Bishop of Hereford, and his brother William, Lord of Brecknock, began to reconstruct the church in the prevalent Early English style. Their work was presently interrupted, lor the de Braoses became involved in hostilities with their tyrannical master John. William fled to France, and his wife and son were starved to death by the savage monarch. Bishop Giles, in revenge, intrigued with the independent Welsh, and the result was that in 1231 Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of North
' The charters which illustrate its first beginnings and growth are reprinted in Archaeologia Cambrensis, vols. xiii. and xiv. (series IV.).
A Fortress-
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consequence, except that the south-
In dimensions the building is modest—smaller than many English parish churches—but herein it re-
It has more of the charac-
English period of architecture; it reminds one of Romsey Abbey, though it is very much less imposing.
The plan is simple, consisting of nave with aisles, transepts, and a chancel without aisles, their place bring partially taken by a large chapel on the north
side and a smaller one on the south. There is a north porch and the entire structure is crowned by a low massive tower.
The situation of the little cathedral adds considerably to its attractiveness.
It stands on a wooded hill, round the foot of which the Honddu flows or rages, according to climatic conditions, to join the larger but no less turbulent Usk.
When last the writer saw honddu she was in an angry mood, rushing along between her-
One sees that St. John’s was almost as much fort-