Ergyng was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 kingdom of the sub-Roman

Sub-Roman Britain

Sub-Roman Britain is a term derived from an archaeological label for the material culture of Britain in Late Antiquity: the term "Sub-Roman" was invented to describe the potsherds in sites of the 5th century and the 6th century, initially with an implication of decay of locally-made wares from a...

 and early medieval

Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the decline of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages...

 period, between the 5th and 7th centuries. It was later referred to by the English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 as Archenfield

Archenfield

Archenfield is the historic English name for an area of southern and western Herefordshire in England. Since the Anglo-Saxons took over the region in the 8th century, it has stretched between the River Monnow and River Wye, but it derives from the once much larger Welsh kingdom of...

.

Location

The kingdom lay mostly in what is now western Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

 (now in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

), its heartland between the River Monnow

River Monnow

The River Monnow flows through south-west Herefordshire, England and eastern Monmouthshire, Wales.- Border River :For much of its short length it marks the border between England and Wales before it joins the River Wye at Monmouth. The Wye is also half English from Monmouth until it meets the...

 and River Wye

River Wye

The River Wye is the fifth-longest river in the UK and for parts of its length forms part of the border between England and Wales. It is important for nature conservation and recreation.-Description:...

. However, it also spread into modern Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire

Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...

 and east of the Wye, where sits the old Roman

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

 town of Ariconium (Welsh: Din Aricon) at Weston under Penyard from which its name may derive; it may have been the first capital. Some maps show Ergyng extending across what is now the Forest of Dean

Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...

 to the River Severn

River Severn

The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...

.

Monarchy

After the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain in 410 AD, new smaller political entities took the place of the centralised structure. The area was originally part of the Kingdom of Glywysing (modern Glamorgan

Glamorgan

Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...

) and Gwent, but seems to have become independent for a period under Gwrfoddw Hen

Gwrfoddw

King Gwrfoddw was the King of Ergyng, a south-east Welsh kingdom of the early medieval period. He usurped the throne from Gwrgan ap Cynfyn.-Life:...

 in the late 5th century, and again under King Peibio Clafrog

Peibio Clafrog

Peibo Clafrog , was King of Ergyng in south-east Wales in the 5th or 6th century...

 in the mid-6th century. Peibio was the grandfather of Saint Dubricius

Dubricius

Saint Dubricius was a 6th century Briton ecclesiastic venerated as a saint. He was the evangelist of Ergyng and much of South-East Wales.-Biography:Dubricius was the illegitimate son of Efrddyl, the daughter of King Peibio Clafrog of Ergyng...

 or Dyfrig, the first Bishop of Ergyng and an important figure in the establishment of Christianity

Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages...

 in South Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

. He founded large teaching monasteries at Llanfrother near Hoarwithy

Hoarwithy

Hoarwithy is a small village on the River Wye in Herefordshire, England.It is known for its church of St Catherine's built in an Italian Romanesque style with detached campanile...

 and at Moccas

Moccas

Moccas is a village and civil parish in the English county of Herefordshire. It is located west of Hereford.The parish is mainly farmland with a number of woods, including Woodbury Hill Wood and the Moccas Park Deer Park...

, and a bishopric seems to have been based at St Constantine's Church at Goodrich

Goodrich, Herefordshire

Goodrich is a village, in south Herefordshire, England which is very close to Gloucestershire and the Forest of Dean situated near the River Wye at and is famous for its old red sandstone Norman and medieval castle.Not strictly in the Forest of Dean but close enough to count Goodrich is a small...

.

Dubricius' cousin, Gwrgan Fawr

Gwrgan Fawr

Gwrgan Fawr was a king of Ergyng, a south-east Welsh kingdom of the early medieval period....

 (the Great) was one of its most important monarchs and may have obtained sway over Glamorgan as far as the River Neath

River Neath

River Neath is a river in south Wales running south west from its source in the Brecon Beacons National Park to its mouth at Baglan Bay below Briton Ferry on the east side of Swansea Bay.Several minor rivers rise on the southern slopes of Fforest Fawr...

. In the middle of the 7th century, Onbraust of Ergyng married Meurig of Gwent, and their son Athrwys

Athrwys ap Meurig

Athrwys was a Prince, possibly a King, from Gwent in Wales, who is generally accepted as having lived in the early 7th century.-Lineage:...

 became king of both kingdoms. Ergyng eventually became a mere cantref, the Welsh equivalent of a hundred.

Later history

By the 8th century, the expanding power of Mercia

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

 led to conflict with the native British, and by the 9th century the Mercians had gained control over the area and nearby Hereford

Hereford

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...

. The sites of old British churches fell to Mercia, and the British became foreigners - or, in the English language, "Welsh" - in what had been their own land. The rump of Ergyng then became known to the English as Arcenefelde or Archenfield

Archenfield

Archenfield is the historic English name for an area of southern and western Herefordshire in England. Since the Anglo-Saxons took over the region in the 8th century, it has stretched between the River Monnow and River Wye, but it derives from the once much larger Welsh kingdom of...

. Although its Welsh-speaking inhabitants retained special rights, the area was unequivocally incorporated into the English county of Hereford in the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542.