Editing Rheged (section)

==Location==
The name Rheged appears regularly as an [[epithet]] of [[Urien]] (a late 6th-century king of Rheged) in a number of early Welsh poems and royal genealogies. His victories over the [[Angles (tribe)|Anglian]] chieftains of [[Bernicia]] in the second half of the 6th century are recorded by [[Nennius]] and celebrated by the bard [[Taliesin]], who calls him "Ruler of Rheged". He is thus placed squarely in the North of Britain and perhaps specifically in [[Westmorland]] when referred to as "Ruler of Llwyfenydd" (identified with the [[River Lyvennet|Lyvennet Valley]]).<ref>{{harvnb|Williams|1960|p=}}{{page needed|date=June 2013}}</ref> Later legend associates Urien with the city of [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]] (the [[Roman Britain|Roman]] [[Luguvalium]]), only twenty-five miles away; Higham suggests that Rheged was "broadly conterminous with the earlier [[Carvetii|''Civitas Carvetiorum'']], the Roman administrative unit based on Carlisle". Although it is possible that Rheged was merely a stronghold, it was not uncommon for sub-Roman monarchs to use their kingdom's name as an epithet. 

[[Toponymy|Place-name]] evidence, e.g., [[Dunragit]] (possibly "Fort of Rheged"){{ref|Alpha|α}} suggests that, at least in one period of its history, Rheged included [[Dumfries and Galloway]]. Recent archaeological excavations at [[Trusty's Hill]], a [[vitrified fort]] near [[Gatehouse of Fleet]], and the analysis of its artefacts in the context of other sites and their artefacts have led to claims that the kingdom was centred on Galloway early in the 7th century.<ref name=Toolis2016>Toolis, R; Bowles, C (2016). ''The Lost Dark Age Kingdom of Rheged: The Discovery of a Royal Stronghold at Trusty's Hill, Galloway'', Oxbow Books Limited. {{pages needed|date=March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/mysterious-dark-age-kingdom-scotland-unearthed | title=Long-lost Dark Age kingdom unearthed in Scotland}}</ref>

Interpretations of another place-name, with even less certainty, indicate that Rheged could also have reached as far south as [[Rochdale]] in [[Greater Manchester]], recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] as ''Recedham''. The [[River Roch]] on which Rochdale stands was recorded in the 13th century as ''Rached'' or ''Rachet''.{{sfn|Williams|1972|p=82}} Such names may derive from Old English ''reced'' "hall or house".<ref>Ekwall, Eilert, The place-names of Lancashire, Manchester University Press, 1922, p. 55.</ref> However, no other place names originating from this Old English element exist, which makes this derivation unlikely.<ref>Clarkson, T. J., The Men of the North: The Britons of Southern Scotland, John Donald, 2010, p. 72.</ref> If they are not of English origin, these place-names may incorporate the element 'Rheged' precisely because they lay on or near its borders. Certainly Urien's kingdom stretched eastward at one time, as he was also "Ruler of [[Catraeth]]" ([[Catterick, North Yorkshire|Catterick]] in [[North Yorkshire]]).

It is accepted by most scholars, therefore, that Rheged was a kingdom covering a large part of modern [[Cumbria]] as well as areas of Dumfries and Galloway and extended, for some of its history, into present day Yorkshire.<ref name="Breeze Transactions">{{cite journal |last1=Breeze |first1=Andrew |title=The Names of Rheged |journal=Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society |date=2012 |issue=86 |url=https://dgnhas.org.uk/sites/default/files/transactions/3086.pdf#page=61 |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>