Kingdom of Rheged | |||||||||||
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c.500–c. 600 | |||||||||||
![]() Yr Hen Ogledd (The Old North) c. 550 – c. 650. | |||||||||||
Capital | Carlisle | ||||||||||
Common languages | |||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
• | Meirchion Gul | ||||||||||
• | Cynfarch Oer | ||||||||||
• | Urien | ||||||||||
• | Owain mab Urien | ||||||||||
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Today part of | United Kingdom |
Rheged (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈr̥ɛɡɛd]) was one of the kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd ("Old North"), the Brittonic-speaking region of what is now Northern England and southern Scotland, during the post-Roman era and Early Middle Ages. It is recorded in several poetic and bardic sources, although its borders are not described in any of them. A recent archaeological discovery suggests that its stronghold was located in what is now Galloway in Scotland rather than, as was previously speculated, being in Cumbria. Rheged possibly extended into Lancashire and other parts of northern England. In some sources, Rheged is intimately associated with the king Urien Rheged and his family.[1] Its inhabitants spoke Cumbric, a Brittonic dialect closely related to Old Welsh.[2]