Even in southern Scotland, most of the Brythonic or Welsh kingdoms came under English or Anglian control. Yet before that happened, those kingdoms produced the first surviving body of literature ...

Most of the rivers of England have Brythonic names: Avon for example is the Welsh afon (river). Saxon or English kingdoms were created, the strongest of which, by AD 700, were Northumbria ...

However, the Vikings never took control of Wales or overcame the powers of the Welsh kings. Notably Rhodri The Great, ruler of Gwynedd, defeated the Danes in 856, a famous victory which earned him ...

However, the invasions also caused a rallying of a Welsh identity and culture under threat. The famous cleric Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) tells a story of King Henry II of England.