Cadell ap Brochfael

Medieval Kingdoms in Wales ( Powys ).

Cadell ap Brochfael ("Cadell son of Brochfael", older also Cattell ap Brochmail written; † 808 ), was from 773 to 808 ruler of the Celtic medieval kingdom of Powys , which was located in the north-eastern part of Wales (Welsh: Cymru) in Britain . Despite the rivalry with the neighboring Welsh kingdoms and especially despite the threat from the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia , he managed to maintain the independence of his kingdom.

origin

Cadell comes from the Gwertherion (Gwrtheyrnion) dynasty, which bears the name of its eponymous ancestor, the Roman- Celtic warlord Vortigern (Welsh: Gwrteyrn), who soon after the retreat of the Roman Empire from Britain in 410 AD most powerful warlords in Britain had risen. The momentous invitation of the Saxons to settle in Britain is attributed to him, which led to the extensive displacement of the Celtic character of Britain. According to tradition, 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 .

Vortigern

The father of Cadell ap Brochfael was, as the column of Eliseg (Elisedd) records, Brochfael ap Elisedd (Brochfael son of Elisedd), who ruled from 755 to 773 as King of Powys . He was thus a grandson of Elisedd ap Gwylog (Elisedd son of Gwylog), King of Powys from around 725 to around 755, in honor of Cadell's son, Cyngen ap Cadell, the so-called Pillar of Eliseg (English: Pillar of Eliseg).

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

Life

Cadell ap Brochfael succeeded his father Brochfael ap Elisedd as King of Powys in the years 773-808. His life was significantly influenced by the development of the neighboring states, in particular the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia in the east and the Welsh kingdoms in the west and south.

Relations with Mercia

The expansive Kingdom of Mercia, against which his grandfather Elisedd and his father Brochfael had to defend themselves, also proved to be a constant threat to Cadell. This was because there with King Offa (757-796) a power-conscious and energetic ruler was in power who vigorously restored the hegemony of the Kingdom of Mercia over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms , which had been lost after the death of King Aethelred . However, as expected, King Offa also turned against his western neighbor, the Powys Kingdom. As the Welsh chronicles, the Annales Cambriae report, Offa of Mercia undertook several military expeditions to Wales, for example in the years 778, 784 and 796. The main burden of these attacks naturally had to bear the closest neighbor - the Kingdom of Powys. It turns out that the kingdom of Powys lost land and that on the other hand these border conflicts were by no means one-sided, but that there were also attacks by Cadell and other Welsh princes.

Schematic cross section of Offa's Dyke showing that it was built to protect against attacks from Powys.

View of Offa's Dyke, near Knill, Herefordshire

This results from the fact that King Offa felt compelled to protect the border against Powys by a new, huge border wall, although the border wall against Wales, the Wat's, built by his predecessor, King Aethelbald of Mercia (716 to 757) around 750 Dyke, was probably still functional. Offa's border wall "Offa's Dyke" was not only an improved version of Wat's Dyke, but also considerably longer (103 km!) And a few kilometers further to the west in order to secure land gains. It was also designed to provide strategically important insights into Welsh territory. To this day, the massive earth wall with a ditch in front is not only visible, but in places still has the original width of almost 20 meters and a (reduced) height of 2.4 meters.

This wall, which was built towards the end of the 8th century, defines - with some exceptions - the border between England and Wales to this day.

Relations with Welsh Neighbors

There was a constant battle for supremacy in Wales between the medieval Welsh kingdoms, which resulted in numerous internal conflicts. Powys has faced repeated threats from the neighboring kingdoms, especially Gwynedd . However, there is hardly any documentary information from the period in question, so that there is no concrete evidence of suspected neighborly conflicts.

Marriage and offspring

About the wife of King Cadell ap Brochfael there is no information about her name or her origin.

Children: King Cadell had at least two children:

• Cyngen ap Cadell († 855), King of Powys (808-855), the last king of Powys from the house of the Roman-Celtic warlord Vortigern (Welsh: Gwrteyrn), who had ruled the Powys Kingdom since the 5th century.

• Nest ferch Cadell . She married Merfyn Frych ap Gwraid (Merfyn the Spotted, son of Gwriad), King of Gwynedd (825-844). Her son Rhodri the Great (Rhodri Mawr) also called Rhodri ap Merfyn Frych (* c. 820, † c. 878) was King of Gwynedd (844–878) and inherited the Powys Kingdom in 855 after the death of his uncle Cyngen ap Cadell . He was the first ruler in Wales to be called "the Great".

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The term “Cadell ap Elisedd” used in the language versions of this article in English, Breton, Catalan and Welsh is probably due to an error in the English version on which these articles are 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". Only the Russian version is based on the correct filiation given there. The designation Cadell ap Elisedd also contradicts the relationship between Elisedd (Eliseg) and the founder of the column, which is correctly referred to as the work of a "great grandson" of Elisedd, in the Wikipedia articles on the Pillar of Eliseg . However, if Cadell were a son of Elisedd, as stated in other articles about Cadell, then his own son - the founder of the column, Cyngen ap Cadell - would not have been a great-grandson, but merely a grandson of Elisedd!
2. ↑ The spelling of the name, which was used on the Pillar of Elisedd (English: Pillar of Elised) from the 9th century
3. ↑ 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 Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz 33, 1986, pp. 468-574.
4. ↑ Geoffrey of Monmouth (Wal .: Gruffudd ap Arthur), Geoffrey von Monmouth (Wal .: Gruffudd ap Arthur,): Historia Regum Britanniae (around 1135).
5. ^ Mike Ashley: "The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens," Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. New York, 1998.

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, Inc. New York, 1998 151
• National Library of Wales, Mostyn Manuscript 117: Bonedd y Arwyr genealogies.
• Kari Maund (2000). The Welsh Kings: The Medieval Rulers of Wales. Tense.

Web links

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

• Information about Offa's Dyke (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Brochfael ap Elisedd	King of Powys 773–808	Cyngen ap Cadell