History of Devon - Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Dyfnaint

Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Dyfnaint

The date that the Anglo-Saxons began to settle in Devon is not uncontroversial. Raids westwards from the core territories of Wessex seem to have been set in motion about 660. After a battle fought probably at Penselwood in 658 the West Saxons advanced to the River Parrett and by 682 they had reached the Quantocks and were pressing forward into the coastal plain. Wessex under King Cynewulf emerged from Mercian domination and began advancing west again from Taunton, established as an advanced West Saxon position in 710 by King Ine, who defeated in that year the last recorded independent king in Devon; the codified Laws of Ine made provision for the Wealhas, the Welsh "foreigners", some of whom retained positions of responsibility. The end of the fighting appears to have been a protracted and miserable affair. Campaigns by King Ecgberht of Wessex in Devon between 813 and 822 appear to have resulted in the defeat of the West Welsh in Devon but not their complete disposition. William of Malmesbury reports negotiations between King Alfred of Wessex and King Dungarth of the Cornish in c. 876 held somewhere near Exmoor in Devon; presumably Alfred would have sought reassurances over his western frontier as he conspired to defeat the Danes. It seems most likely that the final acts of conquest of Devon by Wessex came under King Æthelstan of the English. William of Malmesbury claimed that "the Britons and Saxons inhabited Exeter aequo jure" - "as equals". However Æthelstan notably expelled “that filthy race” from Exeter in 927. Some sources, notably the Cornish antiquary William Borlase, state that the expulsion of the Britons from Exeter was the first act in a military campaign against the West Welsh led by Æthelstan. William Borlase says there was a battle against King Howel of the West Welsh at Haldon near Teignmouth in 936 where the West Welsh were soundly defeated. It seems they were then pursued westwards across the River Tamar and through Cornwall where they were defeated again close to Land's End in what may have been a “last-ditch” encounter that probably ended in slaughter, thus rendering the statement made centuries earlier and known to us as The Groan of the Britons seem morbidly appropriate; "The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea drives us to the barbarians, between these two means of death we are either killed or drowned". An inflamed and astonished Welsh reaction to these events is found in the contemporary poem, Armes Prydein, where the last independent king of Cornwall, reputably King Howel, was said to lament:

"Sorrow springs from a world upturned."

The Britons (West Welsh, Cornishmen) certainly survived in Devon beyond this date because they apparently re-entered Exeter at a later date and an area was known as "Brittayne" in the south west quarter of the city until the 18th century. The Celtic language is reputed to have survived in parts of Devon until the Middle Ages, particular the South Hams, according to Risdon.