Donyarth () or Dungarth (died 875) was the last recorded king of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. He was probably an under-king, paying tribute to the

West Saxons The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Saxons beli ...

. He is thought to be the 'Doniert' recorded on an inscription on

King Doniert's Stone King Doniert's Stone () consists of two pieces of a decorated 9th-century cross, near St Cleer on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. The inscription is believed to commemorate Dungarth, King of Cornwall, who died around 875. History In the 5th century, C ...

, a 9th-century cross shaft which stands in

St Cleer St Cleer () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated on the southeast flank of Bodmin Moor approximately two miles (3 km) north of Liskeard. The population ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in Cornwall, although he is not given any title in the inscription. According to the ', he drowned in 875. His death may have been an accident, but it was recorded in Ireland as a punishment for collaboration with the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

, who were harrying the West Saxons and briefly occupied

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

in 876 before being driven out by

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

following the victory of

Odda, Ealdorman of Devon Odda, also known as Oddune,Harding p. 6 was a ninth-century ealdorman of Devon. He is known for his victory at the Battle of Cynwit in 878, where his West Saxon forces defeated a Viking army led by Ubba, brother of the Viking chiefs Ivar the Bon ...

at the

Battle of Cynwit The Battle of Cynwit or Countisbury Hill took place between West Saxons and Vikings in 878. The location of the fortress the battle is named for is not known with certainty but probably was at Countisbury Hill or Wind Hill, near Countisbury, D ...

in 878.

Philip Payton Philip John Payton is a British-Australian historian and emeritus professor of Cornish and Australian studies. Payton is also Vice-President of the British Australian Studies Association at the University of Exeter and formerly director of the ...

states that one must imagine that he drowned in the

River Fowey The River Fowey ( ; ) is a river in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Its source (river), source is at Fowey Well (originally , meaning ''spring of the river Fowey'') about north-west of Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor, not far from one of its trib ...

, near King Doniert's Stone.

References

Monarchs of Cornwall 875 deaths Year of birth unknown {{Cornwall-stub

See also

References