country holiday herefordshire
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After the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain in 410 AD, new smaller political entities took the place of the centralised structure. A kingdom of Ergyng (or Ercic) seems to have been based on, and named after, the old town of Ariconium and covered what is now southern Herefordshire. To the west of Ergyng, the town of Venta (Caerwent) gave its name to the kingdom of Gwent. Beyond Gwent, Glywysing occupied modern Glamorganshire.
North of Gwent, Ewias, may have originally been a small kingdom before it became a commote of Gwent. To the north and north-west of modern Herefordshire the precursor of the Kingdom of Powys was probably centred on Viroconium (Wroxeter) the tribal city of the Cornovii.
Ergyng presumable had a Christian Church from Roman times. However, the outstanding figure in the history of the church of Ergyng is St Dyfrig, or Dubricius. Dyfrig seems to have emerged from the local Romano-British population and is said to have been born at Lann Ebrdil (Madley) in the 5th century. He began his activities at the time when the British kingdoms had a 70-year respite from Germanic incursions following their victory at Mons Badonicus (legend says under Arthur) in around 500AD. Dyfrig founded large teaching monasteries, first at Henn Lann Dyfrig (Llanfrother near Hoarwithy) and subsequently at Mochros (Moccas). A bishopric seems to have been based at St Constantine's Church at Garthbenni (Hentland in Goodrich parish) by 500AD.
In the early 6th century Ergyng seems to have been part of a large kingdom which also included Gwent & Glywysing. The ruler of this land, King Erb, died in around AD 555, and his kingdom was divided amongst his sons -
Peibio becoming king of Ergyng. Peibio was later called 'the dribbler' but this may be an error based on the similarity between the old Welsh word for dribbling and the word for leprosy. If Peibio did suffer from leprosy, so did many other people - it would be many centuries before leprosy disappeared from the British Isles.
Moccas Church - Moccas was the site of the second, and greater, of St Dyfrig's monasteries. The earlier name was Mochros - 'pig moor' in Welsh.
In the east of Britain, Germanic invaders from were overrunning the Romanised native people. There has been a lot of speculation about the numbers of the Germanic Anglo-Saxons who come to Britain. DNA analysis of modern males suggests that the British population was totally swamped in large areas of the country. Powys seems to have lost its eastern territories (in modern Shropshire) to an expanding Mercia, the Anglian kingdom based in the midlands. In 577 the Saxons defeated the British at the Battle of Dyrham, and captured Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester.
The British king Tewdrig's victory at the Battle of Pont y Saeson on the lower Wye in around 620 or 630 stopped their advance and South Wales was never again to be seriously threatened by the English peoples.
In Ergyng, King Peibio was followed by Cinuin and Gwyddgi, who were followed in turn by Gwrgan. Gwrgan is the last person recorded as King of Ergyng, and probably died in about 645. Gwrgan's daughter, Onbraust, married Meurig of Glywysing/Gwent, and their son Athrwys became king of both kingdoms.