Geraint of Dumnonia
|
|
- For the Geraint who fought at the battle of Gododdin, see Geraint rac Deheu.
Geraint (d. 710 CE; known in Latin as Gerontius) was a King of Dumnonia who ruled in the early eighth century. During his reign, it is believed that Dumnonia came repeatedly into conflict with neighbouring Anglo-Saxon Wessex who started to control what became the county of Somerset.
A long and rather acrimonious letter survives addressed to him from Aldhelm on the Easter Problem and the shape of the tonsure. It is clear from this letter that in the later seventh century the British in Cornwall and Devon still observed Easter on the dates that the Celtic church had calculated, at variance with Catholic practice. Geraint ultimately agreed with Aldhelm to comply with Roman practice on these points.
According to Florence of Worcester, Geraint is supposed to have been killed at the Battle of Llongborth after a series of battles that culminated in a victory of the West Saxons and South Saxons under Ine in 710 CE. It was probably around this time that Devon was conquered by the West Saxons. After Geraint's death, however, Ine was unable to establish his authority over neighbouring Cornwall; in 722, according to the Annales Cambriae, the West Saxons were defeated by the Cornish at the three battles of Hehil, Gartmailauc, and Pencon.
Geraint is venerated as a saint, and appears in the Welsh language classic The Mabiginion.
He was the last recorded king of a unified Dumnonia, with subsequent kings (eg Doniert, Huwell) reigned over a reducing area of influence that eventually encompassed only a part of Cornwall.