Featured Article Summary #185

Meurig ab Arthfael, also known as Mouric (ruling around 848), was a king in south-east Wales. In the 7th century Gwent was one kingdom, but by the 9th century it was split into Glywysing (Glamorgan) and a smaller Gwent (including today’s Monmouthshire). Historians disagree about whether Meurig ruled all of south-east Wales as king of Glywysing, or only ruled Gwent, while his sons Brochfael and Ffernfael were only kings of Gwent under the authority of their cousin Hywel ap Rhys of Glywysing. The 12th-century Book of Llandaff describes charters showing Meurig giving land to bishops and protecting grants. Two charters also say he freed all churches from obligations to lay people, and Wendy Davies suggests he was unusual in trying to protect churches from lawlessness and abuse of power. Scholars do not agree on his date of death, since kings named Meurig are recorded as dying in 849 and 874, and Meurig ab Arthfael may have been either. In early medieval Wales, the borders and names of kingdoms changed over time. In the 7th century, south-east Wales was the kingdom of Gwent, but historians disagree about the 9th century: some think it was split into western Glywysing (later Morgannwg/Glamorgan) and a smaller eastern Gwent (Monmouthshire), while others think it stayed as one kingdom (Glywysing) with some junior kings ruling smaller areas. Overall, scholars suggest the different views may point to the same basic situation. Most information about King Meurig ab Arthfael comes from charters in the twelfth-century Book of Llandaff, which were once widely dismissed as unreliable but have been reconsidered since the 1970s. Although some charters are likely forged and the dates are unclear, independent sources confirm that Meurig and his sons Brochfael and Fernfael ruled in the ninth century, including a reference by Asser and a charter naming the sons as witnesses. Davies dates Meurig’s reign to around 848, and historians disagree about where his power lay: some say he ruled both Glywysing and Gwent, while others argue he ruled only Gwent and that kingship in Glywysing belonged to Hywel ap Rhys instead. Around 850, charters 169b and 170 say Meurig ordered that churches should be freed from duties to laypeople. Davies argues that the Llandaff charters often show lawless, arbitrary use of royal power, but she sees Meurig as an exception because he seems to have tried to remove lay control of church property—though later kings still granted churches into lay hands. Other charters show Meurig’s involvement in church property too: he made or guaranteed grants by bishops and sometimes approved grants made by laymen. Examples include giving the church at Tryleg to Bishop Cerennyr, and Meurig’s consent or guarantees for churches such as Cilpedec (Kilpeck) and Cum Mouric (possibly Little Dewchurch), with some uncertainty over which version of certain charters is genuine. Two different deaths of a king named Meurig are recorded in the Annales Cambriae, in 849 and again in 874, and historians disagree about which one was Meurig ab Arthfael. Charles-Edwards and Bartrum give different dates, while Davies argues strongly that Meurig ab Arthfael died in 874, and Sims-Williams lists both possibilities. A later genealogy suggests Gwriad ap Brochfael as an ancestor of Meurig’s nephew Hywel, but this may be a mistake; other historians instead say Nowy ap Gwriad’s ancestry is unknown, and they think Meurig’s royal line ended with Brochfael in the early 10th century.