:Pengwern

Nothing is known about the foundation of Pengwern, although according to Welsh tradition it was part of the Welsh kingdom of Powys in the early Middle Ages{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}. Early Powys, much larger in extent than the later medieval kingdom, seems to have roughly coincided with the territory of the Celtic Cornovii tribe, whose civitas under Roman rule (capital or administrative centre) was Viroconium Cornoviorum (now Wroxeter){{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}, replacing a fort located on the Wrekin, which was abandoned. Once the Roman legions left the area, Viroconium Cornoviorum had taken control of governing. However, the surrounding pagus (possibly multiple) may have revolted against the rule of Viroconium Cornoviorum, establishing a separate centre of power, which would become Powys.{{cite web|last=Strange|first=O|title=The Lost Land of the Cornovii|url=https://www.academia.edu/127089896/The_Lost_Land_of_the_Cornovii|accessdate=18 January 2025}} Between 530 and 550, Viroconium Cornoviorum, like many other Roman urban sites and villas in Britain at the time, was abandoned, possibly eventually developing into part of the royal court of Llys Pengwern.{{Cite book |last=Wyatt |first=Louise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uq-IDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT5 |title=Secret Chepstow |date=2018-08-15 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-8134-4 |language=en |access-date=6 December 2023 |archive-date=6 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206130755/https://books.google.com/books?id=Uq-IDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT5#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}

The exploits of Cynddylan, as imagined around the 9th century, are told in the Old Welsh Canu Heledd (a cycle of poems named after Cynddylan's sister), possibly dating from the 9th century but not recorded until later, and this material situates Cynddylan's seat at Pengwern. These relate to a further cycle of heroic and elegiac poetry concerning early Powys and the Hen Ogledd known as Canu Llywarch Hen.{{cite journal |title=Bardic Portraits: Llywarch Hen |journal=The Cambro-Briton |date=1820 |volume=1 |issue=8 |pages=287–295 |jstor=30068942 }}{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Sharon |title=A vindication of the genuineness of the ancient British poems of Aneurin, Taliesin, Llywarch Hen, and Merdhin, with specimens of the poems |date=1803 |publisher=E. Williams |jstor=community.35016324 |oclc=9860421233 }}{{pn|date=December 2023}}{{Cite book |last=Bradley |first=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4cRSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT2 |title=Owen Glyndwr and the Last Struggle for Welsh Independence |date=2021-12-02 |publisher=Litres |isbn=978-5-04-062326-6 |language=en |access-date=6 December 2023 |archive-date=6 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206130436/https://books.google.com/books?id=4cRSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT2 |url-status=live }}

A number of places still identifiable in the Shropshire landscape today are mentioned alongside Pengwern in this poetry. The exact location of Llys Pengwern — the Court of Pengwern — is not known, and the problem is compounded by the fact that several other Pengwerns exist in Wales (e.g. near Denbigh in north Wales). A tradition, recorded by Giraldus Cambrensis in the late 12th century, associates it with the site of modern Shrewsbury (although that town has been known as Amwythig in Welsh since the Middle Ages).{{Cite journal |title=Re-Thinking Thirteenth-Century Powys |journal=Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion |date=January 2015 |url=https://www.academia.edu/41501906 |access-date=4 December 2023 |archive-date=4 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204181712/https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/61672119/Re-Thinking-Thirteenth-Century-Powys20200103-76642-1uilxla-libre.pdf?1578080939=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DRe_Thinking_Thirteenth_Century_Powys.pdf&Expires=1701715395&Signature=ZM6tgljdjqwN9rudurZJ0M14OTwNSvMdRyBYY9-b3YsOWAkCUCqiqlHvP6LzwXCzSEmRyT0Ia5QSSsEK0Et2AAAjhSiIgptz64hcfKcwVEWjn1zbaMkvjUNDHZbMFc6AFpBcefITHDYrCp~SQHWQFU53lC3dzPpm4qyMOPdeFMxY7BrBXi0gi--5ST-qc1rCZ1-BEe6HLee5koLXW1KaxtlVLLoN2CzfEF4XPDp7xOxHyduVBts3SuYl9ylb3fjmCyaIgSke7w4JVp9L9vkRi8ji2ff34zu9Sep9Y39rl5LruaQKSd5gwRSjTDrvg2KrPOll4VHLJjnx8M2I6AvW-A__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA |url-status=live |last1=Stephenson |first1=David }}

A more recent suggestion is the Berth, a dramatic hillfort at Baschurch, is the location of Pengwern. However, archaeological evidence shows only the Iron Age fort with possible Roman reuse.Newman, John; Nikolaus Pevsner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=3Zqbit3opjQC&dq=Pengwern+Berth+archaeology&pg=PA136 Shropshire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204181820/https://books.google.com/books?id=3Zqbit3opjQC&dq=Pengwern+Berth+archaeology&pg=PA136#v=onepage&q=Pengwern%20Berth%20archaeology&f=false |date=4 December 2023 }} (Buildings of England). New Haven: Yale University Press 2006, {{ISBN|978-0-300-12083-7}}, p. 136 Wroxeter, the former Roman town of Viroconium Cornoviorum, is near these places. Archaeological evidence suggests that the settlement at Wroxeter continued after the Roman withdrawal, and was only finally abandoned in about 520, when it had become indefensible as the last vestiges of Romano-British central government broke down. A fort on the Wrekin, near Wroxeter, has also been suggested for this reason. Another theory is that the earthworks under Whittington Castle may be Pengwern.{{cite web|title=Whittington Castle|url=http://www.castlewales.com/whittng.html|publisher=Castle Wales|access-date=4 December 2023|archive-date=8 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230908201119/https://www.castlewales.com/whittng.html|url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=McKenna |first1=Catherine |title=Medieval Powys. Kingdom, principality and lordships, 1132-1293 by David Stephenson (review) |journal=North American Journal of Celtic Studies |date=2018 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=186–188 |doi=10.1353/cel.2018.a781219 |s2cid=231732252 |id={{Project MUSE|781219}} }}

Cynddylan apparently joined forces with king Penda of Mercia to protect his realm, possibly also for personal reasons: his brother Gwion had been killed during the Battle of Chester.{{cite book |last1=Bartrum |first1=Peter C. |title=A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000 |date=2009 |publisher=National Library of Wales |location=Aberystwyth |isbn=978-0907158738 |pages=195, 371 |edition=Updated Online}} (Fellow ally Selyf ap Cynan of Powys died as well, and it is unclear what happened to Powys afterwards, as mentions of their rulers became scarce for nearly a century.) Together Cynddylan and Penda fought against the increasingly powerful Anglian kingdom of Northumbria at the Battle of Maes Cogwy (Oswestry or Forden) in 642. It was here that their mutual enemy, king Oswald, was slain. Regardless, this seems to have bought a period of peace until Penda's death, when a Northumbrian raiding party led by Oswald's brother Oswiu of Northumbria overran northern Mercia and, a bit later, Cynddylan's palace at Llys Pengwern in a surprise attack. Caught completely off guard and without defence, the royal family, including the king, were slaughtered, according to the poetry commemorating the tragedy, with the palace being burned to the ground, likely along with records. Princess Heledd was the only survivor and fled to western Powys.{{cite ODNB |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/51395 |last1=Thornton |date=2004 |first1=David E. |title=Cynddylan ap Cyndrwyn (fl. c. 616–c. 641), king in Wales }}{{cite journal |last1=Bray |first1=Dorothy Ann |title=A woman's loss and lamentation: Heledd's song and The Wife's Lament |journal=Neophilologus |date=1 January 1995 |volume=79 |issue=1 |pages=147–154 |id={{ProQuest|1301908461}} |doi=10.1007/BF00999569 |s2cid=162030100 }} After this the region associated with Pengwern seems to have been shared between Mercia and Powys; part of it remained in Welsh hands until the reign of Offa of Mercia and the construction of his dyke. Part of it consisted of the Anglian sub-kingdom of the Magonsæte and Wreocensæte.{{Cite book |last=Wall |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iAqtEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT10 |title=West: Tales of the Lost Lands |date=2023-02-15 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-3981-1020-5 |language=en |access-date=6 December 2023 |archive-date=6 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206130520/https://books.google.com/books?id=iAqtEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT10 |url-status=live }}

In Shrewsbury there is the Pengwern Boat Club on the banks of the River Severn, opposite The Quarry park, as well as other shops and businesses that use the name.

{{Reflist}}

• Clancy, Joseph (1970), The Earliest Welsh Poetry
• Remfry, P. M. Whittington Castle and the families of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Peverel, Maminot, Powys and Fitz Warin ({{ISBN|1-899376-80-1}})
• Williams, Ifor (1935) Canu Llywarch Hen

Category:Kingdoms of Wales

Category:History of Shropshire

Category:History of Wales

Category:History of Powys

Category:Sub-Roman Britain