Europe · The successor kingdoms
Kingdom of Gwent
drawn on the map AD 540–946, 960–1055
Gwent, between the Rivers Wye and Usk in south-east Wales, took its name from the Roman town Caerwent (Venta Silurum), with Caerleon also significant; it emerged in the 5th century with cultural continuity from the Roman-era Silures. Early kings include King Tewdrig and his son Meurig.
- Shown on the map
- AD 540–946, 960–1055 (2 periods)
- Peak area
- 2k km²
- Region
- Europe
Names and origin
Gwent, between the Rivers Wye and Usk in south-east Wales, took its name from the Roman town Caerwent (Venta Silurum), with Caerleon also significant; it emerged in the 5th century with cultural continuity from the Roman-era Silures. Early kings include King Tewdrig and his son Meurig.
Union and conquest
From the 6th century Gwent was repeatedly united with Glywysing to the west, and was incorporated into Morgannwg from the 8th century; under Morgan Hen it was formally joined with Glywysing (942–974). Both were conquered by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn c. 1055. Gwent was the first Welsh kingdom to be overrun after the Norman Conquest; from 1070 the Normans created marcher lordships in upper and lower Gwent, ultimately merged into Monmouthshire in 1536.
Common questions
- What was the Kingdom of Gwent?
- Gwent, between the Rivers Wye and Usk in south-east Wales, took its name from the Roman town Caerwent (Venta Silurum), with Caerleon also significant; it emerged in the 5th century with cultural continuity from the Roman-era Silures. Early kings include King Tewdrig and his son Meurig.
- When is the Kingdom of Gwent shown on the map?
- The border data draws the Kingdom of Gwent AD 540–946, 960–1055, in 2 separate periods. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
- How large was the Kingdom of Gwent?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of Gwent covered about 2,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each kingdom as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, national heritage bodies (Historic Environment Wales and Scotland, the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust), museum sources and the Dictionary of Irish Biography, read against the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Bede and the Irish annals with their own biases. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Kingdom of Gwent en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Gwent
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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