Establishment The area has been occupied since the
Paleolithic, with
Mesolithic finds at
Goldcliff and evidence of growing activity throughout the
Bronze and
Iron Age. Gwent came into being after the
Romans had
left Britain, and was a successor state drawing on the culture of the pre-Roman
Silures tribe and ultimately a large part of their
Iron Age territories. It took its name from the
civitas capital of
Venta Silurum, perhaps meaning "Market of the Silures". In the
post Roman period, the territory around Venta became the successor kingdom of Guenta, later Gwent, deriving its name directly from the town through the normal sound change in the
Brythonic languages from
v to
gu. The town itself became
Caerwent, "Fort Venta".
Early Gwent According to one
Old Welsh genealogy, the founder of the kingdom was
Caradoc Freichfras. The earliest centre of the kingdom may have been at
Caerwent, the Roman administrative centre, or perhaps
Caerleon, formerly a major Roman military base. Welsh saints like
Dubricius,
Tatheus and
Cadoc Christianized the area from the 5th century onwards. According to tradition, in about the 6th century Caradoc moved his
court from Caerwent to
Portskewett, perhaps meaning nearby
Sudbrook. Other suggestions are that Gwent was founded by
Erb, possibly a descendant of Caradoc, who may have been a ruler of Ergyng east of the
Black Mountains who won control of a wider area to the south. A later monarch was the Christian King
Tewdrig who was mortally wounded repelling a
pagan Saxon invasion. From the 6th century, various kings would unite the kingdom of Gwent with
Glywysing to the west, with Tewdrig's son
Meurig doing so through marriage.
Destruction Gwent's existence as a separate kingdom again temporarily ended when
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn won control of the area and Morgannŵg in 1055, so extending his rule over the whole of Wales. In 1056 Gruffyd ap Llywelyn campaigned from the vicinity of Monmouth with an army of Welsh,
Saxons and
Danes to defeat
Ralph,
Earl of Hereford, ravaging the surrounding countryside. However, after Gruffydd's death in 1063,
Caradog ap Gruffudd re-established an independent kingdom in Gwent under his father's 2nd cousin
Cadwgan ap Meurig. King
Maredudd of Deheubarth decided not to resist the Norman encroachment on Gwent and was rewarded with lands in England in 1070, at the same time as the chronicler
Orderic Vitalis noted in his
Historia Ecclesiastica that a Welsh king named "Caducan" (Cadwgan ap Meurig) suffered defeat in battle at the hands of
William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford. With the
Norman invasion of Wales extending westwards, Caradog's area of control moved into
Deheubarth to the west, and in 1074 Caradog took over control over what was left of the war-ravaged Kingdom from Cadwgan ap Meurig. The Normans lords freely built permanent stone
castles, many originating from a network of earlier
motte and bailey castles. The density of castles of this type and age is amongst the highest in Britain and certainly the rest of the
Welsh Marches, with at least 25 castle sites remaining in Monmouthshire alone today. Conflict with the
Welsh continued intermittently, although the Welsh Lord of Caerleon, Morgan ab Owain, grandson of King Caradog ap Gruffudd, was recognized by Henry II c. 1155, with Caerleon remaining, in Welsh hands, subject to occasional struggles, until
William Marshal retook the castle in 1217 from
Morgan ap Hywel. ==Extent==