Nest ferch Cadell
Nest ferch Cadell (* approx. 770 in Powys, now Montgomeryshire) was a princess of the medieval Welsh Kingdom of Powys , which was located in north-east Wales . Through her marriage to Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad (Merfyn the Freckled, Son of Gwriad) King of Gwynedd , she became Queen of Gwynedd. Her historical role is that through her inheritance claims, the crown of the Powys Kingdom did not remain in her own family, but instead passed to her husband's family in the form of her son, Rhodri the Great . This was the basis for the rise of their son Rhodri to one of the most important rulers of Wales.
origin
origin
Nest ferch Cadell comes from an old Celtic dynasty from Wales, named after their legendary progenitor, the Roman- Celtic warlord Vortigern ( Welsh : Gwrteyrn) as the "Gwertherion (Gwrtheyrnion) dynasty", which after the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain in Ruled the Powys Kingdom for around four hundred years in 410 .
Closer progenitor
A closer progenitor of this house was Elisedd ap Gwylog (Elisedd son of Gwylog), also called Eliseg ap Gwylog, King of Powys (725 - approx. 755), who succeeded in establishing his Celtic kingdom in the north-eastern part despite the efforts of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia to expand of Wales not only to successfully defend but also to consolidate. Out of gratitude, his great-grandson, Cyngen ap Cadell, King of Powys (808-854) left the brother of Nest fech Cadell - in his memory a memorial column called "Pillar of Eliseg" (Pillar of Eliseg) also "Elise's Pillar" or "Croes" Elisedd “, erect. It is a stone pillar - the remainder of an original stone cross with round beams - that is located near the later Cistercian Abbey of Valle Crucis in Denbighshire , Wales. The - meanwhile weathered - inscription contained a line of tribes of the kings of Powys, which is traced back to Vortigern and his wife Severa. Severa is there as a daughter of the Roman general Magnus Maximus referred to the 383 by the Roman troops in Britain for the Roman Emperor was proclaimed.
Nest ferch Cadell was a great-granddaughter of King Elisedd ap Gwylog
parents
Nest's father was Cadell ap Brochfael (Cadell, son of Brochfael), who ruled as King of Powys from 773 to 808 and who succeeded despite rivalry with the neighboring Welsh kingdoms and above all despite the threat from the expansive Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia to preserve the independence of his kingdom. What was not easy with opponents like Offa , King of Mercia (757-796) and his successor Coenwulf (796-821), who undertook several campaigns to Wales and - thanks to his supremacy in Britain - even assumed the title of "Emperor" .
No details are available about the mother of Nest ferch Cadell.
Life
Entitlement to the throne
Few details are known about her life. Her most important role was arguably that, as the daughter and sister of Kings of Powys, she gave her son, Rhodri the Great, a claim to the Kingdom of Powys and thus the foundation for his rise, which made him one of the few rulers of Wales ruled much of Wales and made it the first Welsh ruler to be honored by historiography the honorary title of "the great".
The pillar of Eliseg: symbol, but not guarantor of the dynasty
It is not known what part Nest ferch Cadell had in the erection of the Pillar of Eliseg, which was erected by her brother Cyngen ap Cadell around 850 in honor of his - and her - great-grandfather, King Elisedd ap Gwylog . The contents of the inscription preserved in copy make it clear that the aim here was not just to erect a memorial to a certain ancestor, but to perpetuate the dynasty's claim to rule over the Powys Kingdom by means of a family tree carved in stone. This was traced back to the most powerful Welsh ruler of the time after the departure of the Romans - on Vortigern - and to the Roman general Magnus Maximus , who, as military commander of Britain, had himself proclaimed Roman emperor by his soldiers in 383 and through his Daughter Sevra, whom he married to Vortigern, became the ancestor of the Powys kings. The pillar of the Eliseg was therefore a monument to the glorification of the dynasty that had ruled Powys for around 400 years and thus a project in which Nest undoubtedly took a personal part. It turned out, however, that this monument was a symbol, but not a guarantor of the dynasty.
Change of dynasty
In sharp contrast to this impressive demonstration of ancient claims to rule of the Querthrion dynasty stands the abrupt end of their actual rule. Just a few years after the completion of the Elisegg pillar, which was arguably one of the most impressive dynastic symbols of Wales, if not Britain, the rule of the Gwerthynion dynasty came to a sudden end. During the lifetime of his uncle Cyngen ap Cadell, the ambitious son of Nest ferch Cadell, Rhodri ap Merfyn Frych , who had ruled the neighboring kingdom of Gwynedd since 844 , had a growing influence on his uncle and thus on the politics of the Powys kingdom. King Cyngen made a pilgrimage to Rome before 855 , becoming the first Welsh ruler to come to Rome after the agreement on the date of Easter between the Welsh Celtic Church and the Roman Church. Soon after, King Cyngen died in Rome.
King Cyngen had provided for his successor sufficiently, as he left four sons. However, his successor on the throne was not one of his sons, but the son of his sister Nest ferch Cadell - Rhodri ap Merfyn Frych! This was unusual in that it passed the eldest son and natural heir of King Cyngen, Elisedd ap Cyngen, and excluded him from succession, while Rhodri united rule over the kingdom of Powys with that of the kingdom of Gwynedd. Legally, this procedure is difficult to explain, as the Welsh laws do not exclude female inheritance, but - similar to the " Lex Salica ", prefer male to female heirs. It can therefore be assumed that this “renunciation of inheritance” by King Cyngen's sons was not entirely voluntary. Rhodri may have used the absence and death of his uncle King Cyngen in Rome to take power and make himself King of Powys. It is not known whether Nest personally contributed to this change in succession. If she witnessed her son's accession to power, she may have felt both joy at his success and regret at the end of the rule of her own four-hundred-year dynasty, which had only recently appeared "set in stone".
Marriage and offspring
Nest ferch Cadell married Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad, King of Gwynedd (825–844)
Children:
- Rhodri the Great ( Welsh : Rhodri Mawr ap Merfyn Frych) (Rhodri the Great, son of Merfyn Frych), King of Gwynedd (844-878), King of Powys (854-878) and King of Seisyllwg (855-878)
- Gwriad ap Merfyn Frych
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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, Inc. New York, 1998.
- ↑ Wormald, Patrick: The Age of Offa and Alcuin. In: Campbell, John; John, Eric & Wormald, Patrick (1991). The Anglo-Saxons. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-014395-5 . P. 101.
- ↑ Davies, John (1990), A History of Wales (First ed.), London: Penguin Group (published 1993), ISBN 0-713-99098-8 , p. 81
- ↑ Burke's Guide to the Royal Family (London: Burke's Peerage, 1973.), p. 321, Family History Library, 942 D22bgr.
literature
- John Davies : A History of Wales. Penguin, London 1993, ISBN 0-713-99098-8 .
- John Edward Lloyd : A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest. Longmans, Green & Co., 1911.
- Nora Kershaw Chadwick : Celtic Britain. Thames and Hudson, 1936.
- Mike Ashley : The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. Carroll & Graf, New York 1998, p. 151.
- National Library of Wales, Mostyn Manuscript 117: Bonedd y Arwyr genealogies.
- Kari Maund : The Welsh Kings: The Medieval Rulers of Wales. Tempus, 2000.
See also
Web links
- Paul Halsall: Medieval Sourcebook: Nennius: Historia Brittonum (1998, English translation)
- The Avalon Project: History Of The Britons (Historia Brittonum) by Nennius, Translated by JA Giles (1841, English translation)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nest ferch Cadell |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Queen of Gwynedd (Wales) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 770 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 9th century |