Brochfael ap Elisedd

Brochfael ap Elisedd (Brochfael son of Elisedd), also called Brochmail ap Eliseg († 773 ) was from 755 to 773 king of the medieval Celtic kingdom of Powys , which lay in the north-eastern part of Wales , whose independence he was against the desires of neighboring Welsh states also defended against the pressure of expansion efforts of the neighboring Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia .

Medieval Kingdoms in Wales ( Powys ).

origin

Brochfael comes from the so-called Gwrtheyrnion, Gwertherion or Gwerthrynion dynasty, which bears the name of its eponymous ancestor, the Roman - Celtic warlord Vortigern (Welsh: Gwrteyrn), who in the period after the withdrawal of the last regular Roman troops (around the Year 410) became the most powerful ruler in Britain. According to Welsh tradition, adopted by a number of later historians, he was married to Severa, a daughter of the Roman general Magnus Maximus , who was called to be Roman Emperor by the Roman troops in Britain in 383 .

The father of Brochfaels ap Elisedd was Elisedd ap Gwylog (Elisedd son of Gwylog), also called Eliseg ap Gwylog († approx. 755), King of Powys from around 725 to around 755, who had succeeded in defying his kingdom against the expansionist efforts of the kingdom To defend Mercia and which is best known for the monument erected in his honor, the so-called Pillar of Eliseg, which was built by Brochfael's grandson, Cyngen ap Cadell, King of Powys (808-854), around 850 was built near the Cistercian Abbey of Valle Crucis in Denbighshire in Wales.

Neither the name nor the origin of Brochfael's mother is known.

Life

When his father Elisedd died, Brochfael was able to take over a state that was consolidated in its independence and its borders.

Fight against Mercia

At the time of King Brochfael's accession to the throne, the dangerous border in the east against the expansive Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia was through the " Wat's Dyke " built under Æthelbald , King of Mercia (716–757) - an approximately 64 km long earth wall to demarcate his lands from Elisedds Kingdom of Powys - stabilized.

In addition, this neighborhood was temporarily harmless to Powys due to the assassination of King Aethelbald by his own people in 757 and the civil war that followed. It remained problematic, however, since King Aethelbald - after a brief interlude by King Beornred (757) - in the person of Offa , King of Mercia from 757 to 796, was succeeded by the most powerful ruler Mercia had ever known. Fortunately for Brochfael, King Offa was primarily preoccupied with gaining supremacy over the rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. This situation seemed advantageous to King Brochfael in order to build on the military successes of his father King Elisedd of Powys by attacking the supposedly weakened Kingdom of Mercia. As the medieval Welsh annals - the Annales Cambriae - report, he made a raid on the Hereford area in 760 , which he devastated. He had underestimated his opponent, however, because King Offa's counterattack that followed soon after resulted in Brochfael losing all of the territories his father had conquered from Mercia in the first half of the 8th century.

Offa's Dyke

This confrontation between the defensive, Celtic dominated world of the Kingdom of Powys under the rule of King Brochfael and the rising Anglo-Saxon power of the Kingdom of Mercia left behind an impressive monument: the so-called Offa's Dyke (Welsh: Clawdd Offa). It was a massive earth wall with a trench in front of it, which once ran for a length of over 200 km along the border between Wales and England. Large sections of the wall are still visible today and some are up to 6 m high.

Offa's Dyke near Clun

Welsh rivals

There was a constant battle for supremacy in Wales between the medieval Welsh kingdoms, which resulted in numerous internal conflicts. Powys was particularly threatened by the neighboring kingdoms of Gwynedd and Deheubarth . King Brochfael was lucky, however: since both neighbors had different interests, Powys was largely spared from attacks.

However, it must be taken into account that there is hardly any news about the relations with these neighbors from that time. For example, the contemporary King of Gwynedd, Caradog ap Meirion (Caradog son of Meirion), who ruled from about 754 to 798, is so little historical that the Welsh historian John Davies does not even mention him. John Edward Lloyd mentions him, but only in a footnote in which he quotes the year of his death from the Annales Cambriae . Details of any major confrontations between King Brochfael and his Welsh neighbors are therefore not known.

Marriage and offspring

The name and origin of his wife are not known.

Children:

As can be seen from the wording of the text of the pillar of Eliseg (English: Pillar of Elisegg, actually Pillar of Elisedd) from the 9th century, he had at least one son:

Cadell ap Brochfael (also Cattell ap Brochmail) who succeeded his father Brochfael ap Elisedd from 773 to 808 as King of Powys.

Individual evidence

↑ Wording on the "Pillar de Eliseg" (English: "Pillar of Eliseg")
↑ Horst W. Böhme: The end of Roman rule in Britain and the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England in the 5th century . In: Yearbook of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum Mainz. 33, 1986, pp. 468-574.
↑ Geoffrey of Monmouth (Wal .: Gruffudd ap Arthur), Geoffrey von Monmouth (Wal .: Gruffudd ap Arthur): Historia Regum Britanniae . around 1135.
↑ Mike Ashley: The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York 1998.
↑ Margaret Worthington: Wat's Dyke: An Archaeological and Historical Enigma. In: Bulletin John Rylands Library, Manchester. Vol. 79, no.3, 1997.
^ John Davies: A History of Wales. 1st edition. Penguin Group, London 1993, ISBN 0-7139-9098-8 .
^ John Edward Lloyd: A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, I. 2nd edition. Longmans, Green, and Co, London 1911, on boogle.com
↑ Cattell ap Brochmail is the form of his name as it was recorded in the wording of the pillar of Eliseg (Pillar of Eliseg).
↑ The term "Cadell ap Elisedd" used in all previous language versions of this article in English, Breton, Catalan and Welsh is probably due to an error in the English version on which it is based. This is because this designation contradicts the succession of generations given by the founder of the column himself, which reads as follows: "Concenn son of Cattell, Cattell son of Brochmail, Brochmail son of Eliseg, Eliseg son of Guoillauc". The designation Cadell ap Elisedd also contradicts the establishment of the column stated in all Wikipedia articles about the Pillar of Eliseg, which is correctly referred to as the foundation of a "great grandson" of Elisedd. However, if Cadell were a son of Elisedd, then his own son - the founder of the Cyngen ap Cadell column - would not have been a great-grandson, but only a grandson of Elisedd.

literature

John Edward Lloyd : A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest. Longmans, Green & Co., 1911.
Mike Ashley : The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York 1998, ISBN 0-7867-0405-5 .
National Library of Wales: Mostyn Manuscript. 117: Bonedd y Arwyr genealogies.
Kari Maund: The Welsh Kings: The Medieval Rulers of Wales. Tempus, Stroud 2000, ISBN 0-7524-1788-6 .

Web links

Commons : Offa's Dyke - collection of images, videos and audio files

Information about Offa's Dyke (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Elisedd ap Gwylog	King of Powys 755-773	Cadell ap Brochfael

personal data
SURNAME	Brochfael ap Elisedd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Brochmail ap Elised
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	King of Powys (Wales)
DATE OF BIRTH	8th century
DATE OF DEATH	773

[1] Wording on the "Pillar de Eliseg" (English: "Pillar of Eliseg")

[2] Horst W. Böhme: The end of Roman rule in Britain and the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England in the 5th century . In: Yearbook of the Roman-Germanic Central Museum Mainz. 33, 1986, pp. 468-574.

[3] Geoffrey of Monmouth (Wal .: Gruffudd ap Arthur), Geoffrey von Monmouth (Wal .: Gruffudd ap Arthur): Historia Regum Britanniae . around 1135.

[4] Mike Ashley: The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York 1998.

[5] Margaret Worthington: Wat's Dyke: An Archaeological and Historical Enigma. In: Bulletin John Rylands Library, Manchester. Vol. 79, no.3, 1997.

[6] John Davies: A History of Wales. 1st edition. Penguin Group, London 1993, ISBN 0-7139-9098-8 .

[7] John Edward Lloyd: A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, I. 2nd edition. Longmans, Green, and Co, London 1911, on boogle.com

[8] Cattell ap Brochmail is the form of his name as it was recorded in the wording of the pillar of Eliseg (Pillar of Eliseg).

[9] The term "Cadell ap Elisedd" used in all previous language versions of this article in English, Breton, Catalan and Welsh is probably due to an error in the English version on which it is based. This is because this designation contradicts the succession of generations given by the founder of the column himself, which reads as follows: "Concenn son of Cattell, Cattell son of Brochmail, Brochmail son of Eliseg, Eliseg son of Guoillauc". The designation Cadell ap Elisedd also contradicts the establishment of the column stated in all Wikipedia articles about the Pillar of Eliseg, which is correctly referred to as the foundation of a "great grandson" of Elisedd. However, if Cadell were a son of Elisedd, then his own son - the founder of the Cyngen ap Cadell column - would not have been a great-grandson, but only a grandson of Elisedd.