Lloegyr facts for kids
Lloegyr is an old Welsh name for a part of Britain. People used this name during the Middle Ages, which was a long time ago. The exact boundaries of Lloegyr are not fully known today. However, some experts think it was the land south and east of a line from the Humber Estuary to the Severn Estuary. This area did not include Cornwall and Devon.
The people living in Lloegyr were called Lloegyrwys. This name was used for everyone in the area, whether they were Britons or Anglo-Saxons. Today, the word has changed to Lloegr, and it is now the Welsh word for all of "England."
You might know this name from stories about King Arthur. The word Lloegyr was changed into names like Logres or Loegria in these famous tales. It is often used to describe King Arthur's kingdom. We know this word has been around since at least the 10th century. It even appears in an old Welsh poem called Armes Prydein.
Where Was Lloegyr?
Historians and scholars from the 1700s and 1800s believed that Lloegyr's borders followed a specific line. This line started at the Humber Estuary in the east. It then went southwest towards the Severn Estuary. After crossing the Severn, the line continued south through South West England. This meant that Cornwall and Devon were not part of Lloegyr.
Old Welsh writings, like the Welsh Triads, mention this division. Famous historians like John Rhys and John Edward Lloyd also supported this idea in their books. Even Geoffrey of Monmouth, who wrote many imaginative stories about King Arthur, knew about these borders. He showed that the real boundary of Lloegyr was between the Humber and Severn estuaries. He also knew that Cornwall was a separate place from Loegria, his fictional version of Lloegyr.
The Name's History
The exact origin of the name Lloegyr is a bit of a mystery. Many people have guessed where it came from. One idea comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth in his book History of the Kings of Britain. He made up a story that the names Cambria (Wales), Loegria (England), and Albany (Scotland) came from three brothers: Camber, Locrinus, and Albanactus. He said each brother became king of one of these lands.
More recently, in 1982, a language expert named Eric Hamp suggested a different idea. He thought Lloeg(y)r might come from an old Celtic word meaning 'having a nearby border'. Another idea is that it comes from a word meaning 'warriors'. This would make sense because Lloegyr was seen as a foreign land by the Welsh.
To the Welsh people, Lloegyr was a different country with different people. They called themselves Cymry. This name included all the Britons who lived north and west of Lloegyr. It covered the lands south of the Scottish firths (narrow inlets of the sea) of Clyde and Forth. However, it did not include the people of Cornwall and Devon.
Images for kids
-
A map showing the traditional regions of Britain.
