Power, place and territory in early medieval South-East Wales

Wales provides a rare opportunity to explore the development of an early medieval socio-political landscape in a part of the western Roman Empire which was not subject to Germanic incursion before the eleventh century. South-east Wales is particularly important in this respect as it lies within the Romanized zone of lowland Britain. A lack of early evidence, however, has led scholars to construct anachronistic interpretations which are overly dependent upon evidence drawn from lawbooks of the thirteenth century. Archaeological evidence and documentary sources from south-east Wales do, however, afford an opportunity to explore the organization and exploitation of the early medieval landscape independently of the lawbooks. This paper examines territorial organization, central places, and long-term political continuity in early medieval south-east Wales. It concludes by considering some of the contrasts between patterns of power in south-east Wales and Anglo-Saxon England.