51°33′36″N3°24′32″W / 51.560°N 3.409°W /51.560; -3.409Penychen was a possible minor kingdom ofearly medievalWales and later acantref of the Kingdom ofMorgannwg. Penychen was one of three cantrefi that made up the kingdom ofGlywysing, lying between the rivers Taff and Thaw, the other two beingGwynllwg andGorfynydd. According to tradition, these cantrefi were created on the death ofGlywys (c.480 AD), the first king of Glywysing, when the kingdom was divided between his three sons:Pawl,Gwynllyw andMechwyn. 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.[1]
Pawl's brother Gwynllyw was the ruler of Gwynllwg and upon his death it is said that the cantref passed to his sonCadoc (Cadwg), also known as St. Cadoc. Cadoc would later take control of Penychen, but when he was killed by theSaxons he had no heirs, and both cantrefi fell under the control ofMeureg ofGwent 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 NormanMarcher Lords and their descendants, but the rest (the commotes of Rhondda Valley andMiskin) 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, andLlancarfan, aclas connected to the early authorCaradoc of Llancarfan.
Penychen lay betweenSenghenydd and Gwrinydd inSouth Wales;[2] it contained the areas which today are thecounty borough ofRhondda Cynon Taff, the majority of theVale of Glamorgan and the west ofCardiff.
