Penychen was a possible minor kingdom of

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and later a

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divided into ''cantrefi'', which were ...

of the Kingdom of

Morgannwg Morgannwg was a medieval Welsh kingdom formed via the merger of the kingdoms of the Kingdom of Glywysing and the Kingdom of Gwent. Formation of Morgannwg First under King Morgan the Generous (fl. ) until the end of the reign of his descendant I ...

. Penychen was one of three cantrefi that made up the kingdom of

Glywysing Glywysing was, from the sub-Roman period to the Early Middle Ages, a petty kingdom in south-east Wales. Its people were descended from the Iron Age tribe of the Silures, and frequently in union with Gwent, merging to form Morgannwg. Name a ...

, lying between the rivers Taff and Thaw, the other two being

Gwynllwg Gwynllŵg was a kingdom of mediaeval Wales and later a Norman lordship and then a cantref. Location It was named after Gwynllyw, its 5th century or 6th century ruler and consisted of the coastal plain stretching between the Rhymney and Usk rive ...

and

Gorfynydd Glywysing was, from the sub-Roman period to the Early Middle Ages, a petty kingdom in south-east Wales. Its people were descended from the Iron Age tribe of the Silures, and frequently in union with Gwent, merging to form Morgannwg. Name an ...

. According to tradition, these cantrefi were created on the death of

Glywys Glywys is a legendary early 5th century Welsh king, an important character in early Welsh genealogies as the eponymous founder king of Glywysing, a southeast Welsh kingdom whose heartland lay between the Tawe and the Usk. In one genealogy Glywys ...

(c.480 AD), the first king of Glywysing, when the kingdom was divided between his three sons:

Pawl A pawl is a movable lever that engages a fixed component to either prevent movement in one direction or restrain it altogether. As such, it is a type of latch and can also be considered a type of dog. It typically consists of a spring-loaded le ...

Gwynllyw Gwynllyw Filwr or Gwynllyw Farfog (), known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded ( la, Gundleus, Gundleius or Gwenleue; 450 – 500 AD) was a Welsh king and religious figure. He was King of Gwynllwg in South ...

and Mechwyn. But our knowledge of the early history of the kingdom is very uncertain, being mainly sourced from medieval documents and traditional pedigrees. Pawl was the ruler of Penychen and on his death (c.540 AD) passed the cantref on to his nephew. Pawl's brother Gwynllyw was the ruler of Gwynllwg and upon his death it is said that the cantref passed to his son

Cadoc Saint Cadoc or Cadog ( lat-med, Cadocus; also Modern Welsh: Cattwg; born or before) was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorgan, Wales, a monastery famous from the era of the British church as a centre of learnin ...

(Cadwg), also known as St. Cadoc. Cadoc would later take control of Penychen, but when he was killed by the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

s he had no heirs, and both cantrefi fell under the control of Meureg of Gwent and were absorbed into his kingdom. After the Norman conquest of South Wales, the southern parts of Penychen, on the Bristol Channel, came under the direct rule of the Norman

Marcher Lords A Marcher lord () was a noble appointed by the king of England to guard the border (known as the Welsh Marches) between England and Wales. A Marcher lord was the English equivalent of a margrave (in the Holy Roman Empire) or a marquis (in Fra ...

and their descendants, but the rest (the commotes of Rhondda Valley and

Miskin Miskin ( cy, Meisgyn) is a village approximately south of Llantrisant in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The origin of the village was a small hamlet known as New Mill, which grew up around New Mill farm. Miskin is part of th ...

) remained under the rule of local Welsh lords, who paid homage to the powerful Norman lords but still retained a degree of independence, which they were very ready to defend. In the Middle Ages Penychen contained two important ecclesiastical centres: the episcopal seat of Llandaf, and

Llancarfan Llancarfan is a rural village and community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The village, located west of Barry and near Cowbridge, has a well-known parish church, the site of Saint Cadoc's 6th-century clas, famed for its learning. Cainnech of A ...

, a clas connected to the early author Caradoc of Llancarfan.

Location

Penychen lay between

Senghenydd Senghenydd ( cy, Senghennydd, ) is a former mining town in the community of Aber Valley in South Wales, approximately four miles northwest of the town of Caerphilly. Historically within the county of Glamorgan, it is now situated in the count ...

and Gwrinydd in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

;''The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales''. John Davies,

Nigel Jenkins Nigel Jenkins (20 July 1949 – 28 January 2014) was an Anglo-Welsh poet. He was an editor, journalist, psychogeographer, broadcaster and writer of creative non-fiction, as well as being a lecturer at Swansea University and director of the crea ...

, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg668 it contained the areas which today are the

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

Rhondda Cynon Taff Rhondda Cynon Taf (; RCT; also spelt as Rhondda Cynon Taff) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It consists of five valleys: the Rhondda Fawr, Rhondda Fach, Cynon, Taff (Welsh: ''Taf'') and Ely valleys, plus a number of towns and vil ...

, the majority of the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol C ...

and the west of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

References

Cantrefs History of Wales History of Glamorgan Marcher lordships {{Wales-geo-stub