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| Hereford
- early medieval |
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King Merewalh
Not very much is
known about Herefordshire north of the Wye in
this period. Leominster seems to have been an
early British church (Llanllieni) but how and
when this territory became dominated by the
Anglo-Saxons is almost totally obscure.
In the mid 7th century the area which is
now northern Herefordshire and southern
Shropshire was ruled by a king named Merewalh.
His people were the Western Hecani, who are
often equated with the Magonsaetan, although
this name is not known before the 10th century.
Merewalh was a sub-king beneath Penda, King of
Mercia.
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Marstow in south Herefordshire was Lann
Martin in the 11th century. This was probably
Gurmach where a noble of Glywysing, Rhiadaf,
gave land to the church in the early 8th
century. Its price included a Saxon woman, a
precious sword and valuable horse. These seem
likely to have been the spoils of war.
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Unlike the kings of Ergyng,
with its Christian church with origins in Roman
times, King Merewalh was a pagan. It is however
possible that the people he ruled were Christian
- there are no known pagan Anglo-Saxon burials
or cremation anywhere in this area. The mission
to the English begun by St Augustine in 597 was
still in an early
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Etfrid the
Monk
A Northumbrian monk named
Etfrid is said to have converted Merewalh to
Christianity in 660. The Northumbrian church at
that time would have had similar, though
possibly not identical practices to the other
British churches. Easter would have been
celebrated at the same time in Leominster and
Moccas. This changed after the Synod of Whitby
in 663, when the Northumbrian church adopted the
Roman Easter. From this time, what is now
northern Herefordshire held to a different
Easter from what is now southern Herefordshire,
and would continue to do so until the church in
the West (that of Wales) changed to the Roman
calendar a century later (768
AD).
Merewalh's sons, Merchelm
and Mildfith were also rulers of this people.
After them there is no further mention of
sub-kings and presumably this area became
directly under the control of the Mercian
kings.
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Much Dewchurch - In 745 AD the original
church here, Lann Deui, was returned to Bishop
Berthwyn of Ergyng by King Ithel ap Morgan of
Glywysing after the destruction of the area by
the 'most treacherous Saxon race'
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Ithel ap
Morgan
Herefordshire was the
scene of border warfare throughout the early 8th
century. In 722 King Ithel ap Morgan of
Glywysing won a victory over the Mercians at
Pencoyd in Ergyng. The spoils of this warfare
are hinted at in the purchase price of some land
in Ergyng at this time, which included 'a Saxon
woman, a precious sword and valuable
horse'.
In 743 Cuthred of Wessex joined
the Mercian king, Aethelbald, and Ergyng was
laid waste. By 745 Ithel had regained control of
the area and returned 11 churches there to the
Bishop of south-eastern Wales,
Berthwyn.
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