Cynllibiwg (or some variation) was evidently a

place name Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

in early medieval

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. The earliest surviving reference to it is in the ''

Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' () is a purported history of early Britain written around 828 that survives in numerous recensions from after the 11th century. The ''Historia Brittonum'' is commonly attributed to Nennius, as some recensions ha ...

'', which describes a marvelous spring in the ''regione'' of ''Cinlipiuc'' that has an abundance of fish despite not being fed by a stream.

John Edward Lloyd Sir John Edward Lloyd (5 May 1861 – 20 June 1947) was a Welsh historian. Early life and eduction John Edward Lloyd was born in Liverpool on 5 May 1861. He was educated in the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (which later become ...

notes that this ''Cinlipiuc'' appears to be one of the various district names created by adding the element ''-wg'' to a personal name, in this case an unknown Cunalipi or Cynllib. The ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' refers to a place called ''Calcebuef'', which rendered ten

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s; one editor suggests this is a corruption of Cynllibiwg and that it derives ultimately from the name of Saint

Cynllo Saint Cynllo () is a Britons (Celtic people), British saint, who lived in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, generally described as a brother of Saint Teilo. Cynllo was known for "...the sanctity of his life and the austerity of his manners." ...

.''Domesday Book: Herefordshire'' ed. Thorn and Thorn (Phillimore 1983), A10 (f.179b) and notes on it. However, Lloyd connects this name instead to the cantref of

Buellt Buellt or Builth was a cantref in medieval Wales, located west of the River Wye. Unlike most cantrefs, it was not part of any of the major Welsh kingdoms for most of its history, but was instead ruled by an autonomous local dynasty. During the ...

. The

Red Book of the Exchequer The Red Book of the Exchequer (''Liber Rubeus'' or ''Liber ruber Scaccarii'') is a 13th-century manuscript compilation of precedents and office memoranda of the English Exchequer. It contains additional entries and annotations down to the 18th ce ...

, a mainly 13th-century compilation, mentions a region of seven

cantref A cantref ( ; ; plural cantrefi or cantrefs; also rendered as ''cantred'') was a Wales in the Early Middle Ages, medieval Welsh land division, particularly important in the administration of Welsh law. Description Land in medieval Wales was divid ...

s between the

Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

and the Wye that had been known as ''Kenthlebiac'' during the time of

Rhys ab Owain Rhys ab Owain (died 1078) was a king of Deheubarth in southern Wales. Rhys was the son of Owain ab Edwin of the line of Hywel Dda, and member of the Dinefwr dynasty. His ancestry was formally traced in his name Owain ab Edwin ab Einion ab Owain ...

Deheubarth Deheubarth (; , thus 'the South') was a regional name for the Welsh kingdoms, realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under ...

(died 1078).''Red Book of Exchequer'', ed. Hubert Hall (3 vols. HMSO, 1896: Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 99) II, 762. This would place Cynllibiwg in the region later known as

Rhwng Gwy a Hafren was a region of medieval Wales, located in the Welsh Marches between Kingdom of Powys, Powys to the north and Brycheiniog to the south. It was bounded by the rivers River Wye, Wye () and River Severn, Severn (). It covered about the same territor ...

, but reveals nothing about its extent and nature. The editor suggests that seven cantrefs should be amended to three, perhaps

Arwystli Arwystli was a cantref in mid Wales in the Middle Ages, located in the headland of the River Severn. It was chiefly associated with the Kingdom of Powys, but was heavily disputed between Powys, Gwynedd, and the Norman Marcher Lords for hundred ...

Maelienydd Maelienydd, sometimes spelt Maeliennydd, was a cantref and lordship in east central Wales covering the area from the River Teme to Radnor Forest and the area around Llandrindod Wells. The area, which is mainly upland, is now in Powys. During th ...

, and Elfael; these are mentioned earlier in the list as part of

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

in the time of 'Meic Menbis', but no longer such. It has been postulated as an early kingdom,Paul Remfry, "Discovering the lost kingdom of Radnor", British Archaeology, no 34, May 1998
/ref> but is not mentioned by the great majority of historians.Standard works on Welsh history and early/medieval Wales which do not mention Cynllibiwg at all include the following: John Davies, ''History of Wales'' (Penguin, 1992); Sir J. E. Lloyd, ''A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian Conquest'' (revised ed., 1937), the classic survey of the period; R. R. Davies, ''Conquest, Coexistence and Change: Wales 1063-1415'' (Oxford University Press, 1991), probably the most comprehensive and authoritative single volume survey of the period;

Wendy Davies Wendy Elizabeth Davies (born 1942) is an emerita professor of history at University College London, England. Her research focuses on rural societies in early medieval Europe, focusing on the regions of Wales, Brittany and Iberia. Career D ...

, ''Wales in the Early Middle Ages'' (University of Leicester Press, 1982), (refers once to Cynllibiwg as a named early ''region'', based on Nennius); J. Beverley Smith, ''Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Tywysog Cymru'' (University of Wales Press, 1986), the most detailed history of the reign of

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Llywelyn ap Gruffudd ( – 11 December 1282), also known as Llywelyn II and Llywelyn the Last (), was List of rulers of Gwynedd, Prince of Gwynedd, and later was recognised as the Prince of Wales (; ) from 1258 until his death at Cilmeri in 128 ...

, a period which saw him leading several campaigns in the area claimed as a kingdom of Cynllibiwg. The word is not mentioned in contemporary or near-contemporary sources such as the ''

Brut y Tywysogion ''Brut y Tywysogion'' () is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. ''Brut y Tywysogion'' has survived ...

'' or the works of

Gerald of Wales Gerald of Wales (; ; ; ) was a Cambro-Norman priest and historian. As a royal clerk to the king and two archbishops, he travelled widely and wrote extensively. He studied and taught in France and visited Rome several times, meeting the Pope. He ...

References

{{Reflist History of Wales