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{{Short description|Sub-Roman kingdom of Northern Britain}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Rheged
| common_name            = Rheged
| image_map              = Hen_Ogledd_Map.png
| capital                = [[Carlisle]]
| government_type        = Monarchy
| leader_name1           = [[Meirchion Gul]]
| leader_name2           = [[Cynfarch Oer]]
| leader_name3           = [[Urien]]
| leader_name4           = [[Owain mab Urien]]
| life_span              = c.500–c. 600
| image_map_size         = 250
| image_map_caption      = Yr Hen Ogledd (The Old North) c.500
| religion               = [[Celtic Christianity]]
| common_languages       = {{ublist|[[Cumbric language|Cumbric]]}}
| title_leader           = 
| event_end              = Incorporated into [[Northumbria]]
| p1                     = Hen Ogledd
| s1                     = Kingdom of Northumbria
| flag_s1                = 
| s2                     = Kingdom of Strathclyde
| today                  = [[United Kingdom]]
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[Image:Crossfell.jpg|thumb|The [[River Eden, Cumbria|Eden Valley]] is thought by some to have been the heartland of the kingdom of Rheged.]]
'''Rheged''' ({{IPA|cy|ˈr̥ɛɡɛd}}) was one of the kingdoms of the {{lang|cy|[[Hen Ogledd]]}} ('Old North'), the [[Brittonic languages|Brittonic]]-speaking region of what is now [[Northern England]] and southern [[Scotland]], during the [[Sub Roman Britain|post-Roman era]] and [[Early Middle Ages]]. It is recorded in several poetic and [[bard]]ic sources, although its borders are not described in any of them.  Archaeological work from 2012 onwards on a site in [[Galloway]] in [[Scotland]] is interpreted by the excavators as showing that it is a royal centre of Rheged. Rheged possibly extended into [[Lancashire]] and other parts of northern England. In some sources, Rheged is intimately associated with the king [[Urien|Urien Rheged]] and his family.{{sfn|Koch|2006|p=1498}} Its inhabitants spoke [[Cumbric]], a Brittonic dialect closely related to [[Old Welsh]].{{sfn|Jackson|1953|p=9}}

== Etymology ==
The origin of the name ''Rheged'' has been described as "problematic". One [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]]-language solution is that the name may be a compound of ''rö-'', a prefix meaning "great", and ''cę:d'' meaning "wood, forest" (cf. [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''coed'') although the expected form in Welsh would be ''*Rhygoed''. If association of the name with ''cę:d'' is correct, the prefix may be ''rag-'', meaning "before, adjacent to, opposite". Derivation from the element ''reg'', which with the suffix ''-ed'' has connotations of "generosity", is another possibility.<ref name="BLITON">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Alan |title=The Brittonic Language in the Old North |url=https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2020_Edition.pdf |website=Scottish Place Name Society}}</ref>

==Location==
The name Rheged appears regularly as an [[epithet]] of [[Urien]] (a late 6th-century king of Rheged) in a number of early Welsh poems and royal genealogies. His victories over the [[Angles (tribe)|Anglian]] chieftains of [[Bernicia]] in the second half of the 6th century are recorded by [[Nennius]] and celebrated by the bard [[Taliesin]], who calls him "Ruler of Rheged". He is thus placed squarely in the North of Britain and perhaps specifically in [[Westmorland]] when referred to as "Ruler of Llwyfenydd" (identified with the [[River Lyvennet|Lyvennet Valley]]).<ref>{{harvnb|Williams|1960|p=}}{{page needed|date=June 2013}}</ref> Later legend associates Urien with the city of [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]] (the [[Roman Britain|Roman]] [[Luguvalium]]), only twenty-five miles away; Higham suggests that Rheged was "broadly conterminous with the earlier [[Carvetii|''Civitas Carvetiorum'']], the Roman administrative unit based on Carlisle". Although it is possible that Rheged was merely a stronghold, it was not uncommon for sub-Roman monarchs to use their kingdom's name as an epithet. 

[[Toponymy|Place-name]] evidence, e.g., [[Dunragit]] (possibly "Fort of Rheged"){{ref|Alpha|α}} suggests that, at least in one period of its history, Rheged included [[Dumfries and Galloway]]. Recent archaeological excavations at [[Trusty's Hill]], a [[vitrified fort]] near [[Gatehouse of Fleet]], and the analysis of its artefacts in the context of other sites and their artefacts have led to claims that the kingdom was centred on Galloway early in the 7th century.<ref name=Toolis2016>Toolis, R; Bowles, C (2016). ''The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: The Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty's Hill, Galloway'', Oxbow Books Limited. {{pages needed|date=March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/mysterious-dark-age-kingdom-scotland-unearthed | title=Long-lost Dark Age kingdom unearthed in Scotland}}</ref>

Interpretations of another place-name, with even less certainty, indicate that Rheged could also have reached as far south as [[Rochdale]] in [[Greater Manchester]], recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] as ''Recedham''. The [[River Roch]] on which Rochdale stands was recorded in the 13th century as ''Rached'' or ''Rachet''.{{sfn|Williams|1972|p=82}} Such names may derive from Old English ''reced'' "hall or house".<ref>Ekwall, Eilert, The place-names of Lancashire, Manchester University Press, 1922, p. 55.</ref> However, no other place names originating from this Old English element exist, which makes this derivation unlikely.<ref>Clarkson, T. J., The Men of the North: The Britons of Southern Scotland, John Donald, 2010, p. 72.</ref> If they are not of English origin, these place-names may incorporate the element 'Rheged' precisely because they lay on or near its borders. Certainly Urien's kingdom stretched eastward at one time, as he was also "Ruler of [[Catraeth]]" ([[Catterick, North Yorkshire|Catterick]] in [[North Yorkshire]]).

It is accepted by most scholars, therefore, that Rheged was a kingdom covering a large part of modern [[Cumbria]] as well as areas of Dumfries and Galloway and extended, for some of its history, into present day Yorkshire.<ref name="Breeze Transactions">{{cite journal |last1=Breeze |first1=Andrew |title=The Names of Rheged |journal=Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society |date=2012 |issue=86 |url=https://dgnhas.org.uk/sites/default/files/transactions/3086.pdf#page=61 |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>

==Kings of Rheged==
The traditional royal genealogy of Urien and his successors traces their ancestry back to [[Coel Hen]] (considered by some to be the origins of the Old [[King Cole]] of folk tradition),<ref>Harbus, A. (2002) ''Magnus Maximus and the Welsh Helena'' in ''Helena of Britain in Medieval Legend'', Boydell & Brewer, p. 54</ref><ref>Ford, P.K. (1970) ''Llywarch, Ancestor of Welsh Princes'', Speculum,
 Vol. 45, No. 3,  p. 443 - This author argues that the term ''hen'' in the context of early Welsh genealogies has a primary meaning of "heroic ancestor", rather than that the possessor of the epithet necessarily lived to a great age.</ref> who is considered by many to be a mythical figure; if he has some historicity, he may have ruled a considerable part of the North in the early 5th century. All of those listed below may have ruled in Rheged, but only three of their number can be verified from external sources:

* [[Meirchion Gul]], father of Cynfarch
* [[Cynfarch Oer]] (Cynfarch the Dismal), also known as Cynfarch fab Meirchion and Cynfarch Gul, father of Urien
* [[Urien|Urien Rheged]], (c. 550 – 590), about whom survive eight songs of [[Taliesin]]
* [[Owain mab Urien|Owain]], also celebrated for having fought the [[Bernicia]]ns; son of Urien

There are two possible later kings of Rheged:

*Rhun, said to have been a son of Urien. He is recorded in Welsh sources as having baptised [[Edwin of Northumbria]], however, he may merely have stood sponsor at the baptism, thus becoming Edwin's [[Godparent|godfather]].<ref>Corning, Caitlin (2000) ''The Baptism of Edwin, King of Northumbria: A New Analysis of the British Tradition'', Northern History, 36:1, 5-15, DOI: 
10.1179/007817200790178030</ref>
*Royth (Rhaith - meaning 'Justice' in Welsh), son of Rhun, and possibly the last king of Rheged.<ref>Andrew Breeze (2013) ''Northumbria and the Family of Rhun'', Northern History, 50:2, pp. 170-179, DOI: 10.1179/0078172X13Z.00000000039</ref>

==Southern Rheged==
A second royal genealogy exists for a line, perhaps of kings, descended from Cynfarch Oer's brother: Elidir Lydanwyn. According to ''[[Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd]]'' Elidir's son, [[Llywarch Hen]], was a ruler in North Britain in the 6th century.{{sfn|Chadwick|1959|p=121}} He was driven from his territory by princely in-fighting after Urien's death and was perhaps in old age associated with [[Kingdom of Powys|Powys]]. However, it is possible, because of internal inconsistencies, that the poetry connected to [[Powys]] was associated with Llywarch's name at a later, probably 9th century, date.{{sfn|Chadwick|1973|pp=88–89}} Llywarch is referred to in some poems as king of South Rheged, and in others as king of Argoed, suggesting that the two regions were the same. Searching for Llywarch's kingdom has led some historians to propose that Rheged may have been divided between sons, resulting in northern and southern successor states. The connections of the family of Llywarch and Urien with Powys has suggested to some, on grounds of proximity, that the area of modern [[Lancashire]] may have been their original home.{{sfn|Chadwick|Chadwick|1940|p=165}}

==End of Rheged==
After Bernicia united with [[Deira (kingdom)|Deira]] to become the kingdom of [[Northumbria]], Rheged was annexed by Northumbria, some time before AD 730. There was a royal marriage between Prince (later King) [[Oswiu of Northumbria]] and the Rhegedian princess [[Rhiainfellt|Rieinmelth]], granddaughter of Rum (Rhun), probably in 638, so it is possible that it was a peaceful takeover, both kingdoms being inherited by the same man.<ref>Jackson, K.H. (1955) ''The Britons in Southern Scotland'', Antiquity, xxix, pp. 77–88</ref><ref>Lewis, Helen (1989) ''Whose Cultural Heritage? Etifeddiaeth Ddiwylliannol i Bwy?'', English in Education, Taylor & Francis</ref>

After Rheged was incorporated into [[Northumbria]], the old [[Cumbric language]] was gradually replaced by [[Old English]], Cumbric surviving only in remote upland communities. Around the year 900, after the power of Northumbria was destroyed by Viking incursions and settlement, large areas west of the [[Pennines]] fell without apparent warfare under the control of the Brittonic [[Kingdom of Strathclyde]], with [[Leeds]] recorded as being on the border between the Britons and the Norse Kingdom of [[York]]. This may have represented the political assertion of lingering Brittonic culture in the region.{{sfn|Kapelle|1979|p=34}} The area of [[Cumbria]] remained under the control of Strathclyde until the early 11th century when Strathclyde itself was absorbed into the Scottish kingdom. The name of the people, whose modern Welsh form is {{lang|cy|[[Welsh people|Cymry]]}} has, however, survived in the name of [[Cumberland]] and now [[Cumbria]]; it probably derives from an old Celtic word *''Kombroges'' meaning "fellow countrymen".

==Discovery of a possible royal centre of Rheged==
In 2012 archaeologists found evidence at [[Trusty's Hill]] near the town of [[Gatehouse of Fleet]], in Galloway, southwest Scotland, which they interpreted as suggesting that the site may have been a royal centre of Rheged's capital {{circa|600&nbsp;AD}}. One of the lead researchers, Ronan Toolis, stated that their findings revealed structural ruins atop the hill. These originally belonged to a fortification system with a timber-reinforced stone rampart where the main fortification was supplemented by smaller defensive works along the low-lying slopes. According to Toolis, this suggests the presence of a royal stronghold of the period.<ref name=Toolis2016/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxbowbooks.com/blog/2017/07/26/festival-of-archaeology-2017-behind-the-scenes-of-the-lost-dark-age-kingdom-of-rheged/|title=Festival of Archaeology 2017 – Behind the Scenes of the Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged|website=Oxbow Books|date=2017}}</ref> The historian [[Roger Collins]] is sceptical, arguing that the evidence does not fit [the excavators'] favoured interpretation of the site as a royal centre".<ref>[https://www.socantscot.org/resource/the-lost-dark-age-kingdom-of-rheged-the-discovery-of-a-royal-stronghold-at-trustys-hill-galloway-by-ronan-toolis-and-christopher-bowles/ Review by Roger Collins of Toolis and Bowles, ''The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged'', The Society of Antiquities of Scotland, n.d.]</ref>

==Genetic legacy==
According to the [[University of Oxford]]'s ''People of the British Isles'' project, the original population of Rheged has left a distinct genetic heritage amongst the people of Cumbria. The research compared the [[DNA]] of over 2000 people across the British Isles whose grandparents were all born within {{convert|50|miles}} of each other, and found a number of cases, including Rheged, where genetic clusters of people matched the location of historical kingdoms (other examples included [[Bernicia]] and [[Elmet]]).<ref name="people">{{cite web |url=https://www.peopleofthebritishisles.org/population-genetics |title=People of the British Isles: Population Genetics |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=www.peopleofthebritishisles.org |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=30 July 2018 |quote="Several of the other genetic clusters show similar locations to the tribal groupings and kingdoms around at the time of the Saxon invasion (from the 5th century), suggesting that these tribes and kingdoms may have maintained a regional identity for many centuries. For example the Cumbrian cluster corresponds well to the kingdom of Rheged, West Yorkshire to the Elmet and Northumbria to the Bernicia. The existence of these largely quite well separated clusters suggests a remarkable stability of the British people over quite long periods of time."}}</ref>

==Notes==
:{{note|Alpha|α}}but see: Clarkson, T. J., The Men of the North: The Britons of Southern Scotland, John Donald, 2010, p. 71: "Archaeologists are extremely sceptical that this was a site occupied in Early Historic times, still less that it was a royal residence. Such scepticism raises serious doubts about the usual derivation of the place-name Dunragit which may in fact be a red herring. It has been suggested that the second element could be Gaelic ''reichet'' rather than Old Welsh Reget, and that the place was so named by the Gall Gaidhil, 'foreign Gaels', who colonised Galloway in the Viking period." For Gaelic ''re(i)chet'', cf. the Old Irish place name ''Mag Roichet/Rechet'' (Modern Irish ''Maigh Reichead''), now [https://www.logainm.ie/en/28464 Morett, country Laois, Ireland].<ref>Williams, Ifor, “The poems of Llywarch Hen [Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture]”, in: Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 18, 1932, pp. 269–302 (p. 292).</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources and further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Chadwick |first=H.M. |author-link=Hector Munro Chadwick |year=1959 |title=Cambridge Studies in Early British History |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] }}
*{{cite book |last1=Chadwick |first1=H.M. |author1-link=Hector Munro Chadwick |last2=Chadwick |first2=N.K. |author2-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |year=1940 |title=The Growth of Literature |volume=1 |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] }}
*{{cite book |last=Chadwick |first=N.K |author-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |orig-year=1958 |year=1973 |title=Studies in the Early British Church |location=North Haven, CT |publisher=Archon Books |isbn=978-0-208-01315-6 }}
*{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Kenneth |author-link=Kenneth H. Jackson |year=1953 |title=Language & History in Early Britain |url=https://archive.org/details/languagehistoryi0000jack |url-access=registration |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] }}
*{{cite book |last=Kapelle |first=W.E. |author-link=William E. Kapelle |year=1979 |title=The Norman Conquest of the North: the Region and its Transformation, 1000–1135 |location=Chapel Hill, NC |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |isbn=978-0-7099-0040-5 }}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Koch |editor-first=John T |year=2006 |title=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia |location=Santa Barbara, CA |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-85109-440-0 }}
*{{Cite journal|last=McCarthy|first=Mike|title=The kingdom of Rheged : a landscape perspective|journal=Northern History|volume=48|issue=1|pages=9–22|place=Leeds|date=March 2011|doi=10.1179/174587011X12928631621159|s2cid=159794496}}
*{{cite book |last1=Toolis |first1=R |last2=Bowles |first2=C |year=2016 |title=The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: The Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty's Hill, Galloway |publisher=Oxbow Books Limited |isbn=9781785703119 }}
*{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Ifor |author-link=Ifor Williams |year=1960 |title=Canu Taliesin Gyda Rhagymadrodd A Nodiadau |location=Cardiff |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] }}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Williams |editor-first=Ifor |editor-link=Ifor Williams |year=1972  |edition=3rd [paperback, 1990]|title=The Beginnings of Welsh Poetry |location=Cardiff |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] |isbn=978-0-7083-0035-0 }}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Bartrum |first=P.C. |author-link=Peter Bartrum |year=1966 |title=Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts |location=Cardiff |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] }}
*{{cite book|first=Tim|last=Clarkson|title=The Men of the North: The Britons of Southern Scotland|publisher=John Donald, Birlinn Ltd|location=Edinburgh|year=2010|isbn=978-1-906566-18-0}}
*{{cite book |last=Ellis |first=Peter Berresford |author-link=Peter Berresford Ellis |year=1994 |orig-year=1993 |title=Celt and Saxon The Struggle for Britain AD 410–937 |location=London |publisher=[[Constable & Robinson|Constable & Co]] |isbn=978-0-09-473260-5 }}
*{{cite book |last=Higham |first=Nick |year=1986 |title=The Northern Counties to AD 1000 |series=A Regional History of England |location=London |publisher=[[Longman]] |isbn=978-0-582-49276-9 }}
*{{cite book |last=Marsden |first=John |year=1992 |title=Northanhymbre Saga: History of the Anglo-Saxon Kings of Northumbria |url=https://archive.org/details/northanhymbresag0000mars |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Kyle Cathie |isbn=978-1-85626-055-8 }}
*{{cite book |last=Morris |first=John |author-link=John Morris (historian) |year=1973 |title=The Age of Arthur |publisher=[[The History Press|Phillimore & Co]] |isbn=978-0-85033-289-6 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Morris-Jones |first=John |author-link=John Morris-Jones |year=1918 |title=Y Commrodor |volume=XXVIII |location=London |publisher=The Society of Cymmrodorian }}<!-- The missing item is the article title.  Y Commrodor is the journal -->
*{{cite book |last1=Toolis |first1=R |last2=Bowles |first2=C |year=2016 |title=The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: The Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty's Hill, Galloway |publisher=Oxbow Books Limited |isbn=9781785703119 }}
*{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Ifor |author-link=Ifor Williams |year=1935 |title=Canu Llywarch Hen. Gyda Rhagymadrodd a Nodiadau |location=Cardiff |publisher=[[University of Wales Press]] }}
{{Hen ogledd}}

[[Category:Former countries in the British Isles]]
[[Category:History of Dumfries and Galloway]]
[[Category:History of Cumberland]]
[[Category:History of Cumbria]]
[[Category:History of Westmorland]]
[[Category:Hen Ogledd]]
[[Category:Taliesin]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 7th century]]