Brochfael ap Meurig[a] (ruledc. 872 – c. 910) was king ofGwent in south-eastWales. He ruled jointly with his brother,Ffernfael ap Meurig. Gwent andGlywysing, the neighbouring territory to the west, were ruled as a single kingdom in some periods; at other times they were separate and the king of Glywysing had the higher status. Brochfael's father,Meurig ab Arthfael, ruled both territories with the title King of Glywysing, but Brochfael and Ffernfael were only kings of Gwent, and had a lower status than their cousinHywel ap Rhys, King of Glywysing.
TheAnglo-Saxon kingdom ofMercia claimed dominion over most of Wales, but in the late 880s Brochfael, Ffernfael and Hywel submitted voluntarily toAlfred the Great, King ofWessex, in order to gain protection from the oppression ofÆthelred, Lord of the Mercians. A number of Brochfael'scharters survive, mainly grants to BishopCyfeilliog and settlements of Brochfael's disputes with the bishop. Brochfael was the last of his line and was succeeded by Hywel's son,Owain ap Hywel.
The boundaries and names of Welsh kingdoms varied over time in the early medieval period.[8] In the seventh century, south-east Wales was a single kingdom calledGwent, but by the ninth century it had been divided betweenGlywysing (laterMorgannwg andGlamorgan[8]) in the west and Gwent in the east, with the king of Glywysing having the higher status.[9] From the early ninth century,Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom on the eastern Welsh border, claimed hegemony over most of Wales.[10]
In 878, KingAlfred the Great ofWessex defeated theVikings at theBattle of Edington and around the same time KingCeolwulf of Mercia defeated and killedRhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great), the powerful king of the north WelshKingdom of Gwynedd. Rhodri's sons soon recovered their father's power. In 881 they defeated Ceolwulf's successor as ruler of Mercia,Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, at theBattle of the Conwy. This victory was described in Welsh annals as "revenge by God for Rhodri".[11]
Brochfael acceded to the throne of Gwent in around 872.[12] He and his brotherFfernfael ap Meurig were sons ofMeurig ab Arthfael. Historians of Wales do not agree on Meurig ab Arthfael's death date.Thomas Charles-Edwards thinks that he may be the Meurig whose death is recorded in theAnnales Cambriae under 849,[13] butWendy Davies argues that 874 is more likely and dates his reign asc. 848 – c. 874 orc. 850 – c. 870.[14]
In early medieval Wales, it was common for brothers to share the kingship,[15] and in hisLife of King Alfred, written in 893, the Welsh monkAsser describes Brochfael and Ffernfael as kings of Gwent.[16] They are both listed in the twelfth-centuryBook of Llandaff as witnesses tocharters together with their father, but Ffernfael does not have any surviving charters of his own, whereas several show Brochfael as a royal grantor and witness, so Ffernfael may have been subordinate to Brochfael.[17]
Brochfael and Ffernfael were joint kings of Gwent, and their cousinHywel ap Rhys was king of Glywysing.[18] The kingship of Glywysing had a superior status, and Hywel was probably an over-king allowing his cousins to rule Gwent. He gave more grants in Gwent than Glywysing, whereas Brochfael's grants were confined to Gwent. In the previous generation, Davies (followed by Charles-Edwards) states that Brochfael's father Meurig ab Arthfael gave grants in both territories, and that he ruled them both as king of Glywysing.[19] The historianPatrick Sims-Williams dissents, arguing that the charters placing Meurig in Glywysing were forged, and that he had no power outside Gwent.[20]
Æthelred's defeat at the Battle of the Conwy in 881 ended Mercian domination of north and west Wales, but he violently tried to maintain his rule over the south-east. Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, became the competitor of Mercia for the allegiance of the south-eastern Welsh kings, and Æthelred's oppression drove them to voluntarily submit to Alfred and seek his protection. Æthelred himself soon followed in abandoning the attempt to maintain his independence and submitted to the West Saxon king.[21]
In hisLife of King Alfred, Asser listed Brochfael among Welsh kings who submitted to King Alfred:
Charters in the Book of Llandaff showBrochfael in his early years witnessing his father's charters, and later making grants as king. In about 868, King Meurig surrendered the church atTryleg and returned it to BishopCerennyr in the presence ofBrochfael and Ffernfael.[23] Like other Welsh kings,Brochfael had largelanded estates, and he made several grants to BishopCyfeilliog of land and fishing rights on the coast of theSevern Estuary.[24] Grants toCyfeilliog between the 890s and 920s were all of land in Gwent, andBrochfael was the main grantor.[25]
Charters also recordBrochfael's disputes withCyfeilliog. One disagreement concerned a church with threemodii (about 120 acres or 50 hectares) of land whichBrochfael gave to his daughter, described as "a holy virgin", to support her in her religious life. When she died around 910,Brochfael attempted to recover his donation, butCyfeilliog claimed the property and judgement was given in his favour and endorsed byBrochfael. The historian Lester Little comments that this episode sawBrochfael "in a relatively docile mood". Earlier, in about 905, there was a disagreement betweenBrochfael'sfamilia (household) andCyfeilliog's.Brochfael insultedCyfeilliog, who threatened to excommunicate him and his family. Once again,Brochfael backed down and apologised.Cyfeilliog was awarded an "insult price"in puro auro (in pure gold) of the worth of his face, lengthwise and breadthwise.Brochfael was unable to pay in gold and instead paid with sixmodii (about 240 acres or 100 hectares) of land atLlanfihangel.[26]
Brochfael died in the early tenth century, but the exact date is unknown. Davies dates the end of his rule asc. 910,[12] and Charles-Edwards thinks that Glywysing and Gwent were probably ruled as a single kingdom by Hywel's sonOwain ap Hywel by 918.[27] Manuscript D of theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, in a section probably compiled in the 1050s, states that in 927, Owain, king of the people of Gwent, was one of the British rulers who submitted toÆthelstan, King of England.[28] Davies states that the royal line descended from Meurig ended with Brochfael.[29][b]
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