kingdom · British Isles

Kingdom of Buellt

450 CE – 900 CE (approx.)

Small Welsh kingdom around Builth Wells, ruled by a dynasty claiming descent from Vortigern, and later the place where Llywelyn ap Gruffudd was killed.

Origins

Buellt lay in the middle Wye and Irfon valleys around modern Builth Wells. The Historia Brittonum of about 829 says Ambrosius granted Buellt and Gwrtheyrnion to Pascent, son of Vortigern, and names Fernmail as the ruler of both in the author's own day. Among its wonders it lists Carn Cabal, a cairn said to bear the footprint of Arthur's hound.

Rule and society

Little is recorded of its government. It was a small upland kingdom of river valleys and hill grazing, generally ruled together with the Kingdom of Gwrtheyrnion and lying between the larger realms of the Kingdom of Powys, the Kingdom of Brycheiniog and the south-western kingdoms.

Decline and legacy

Buellt was absorbed by larger Welsh kingdoms in the 10th century and later became a cantref contested between Welsh princes and Norman lords, with a castle at Builth. In 1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, last native Prince of Wales, was killed near Cilmeri in Buellt.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of Buellt. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-buellt
MLA
“Kingdom of Buellt.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-buellt. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of Buellt.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-buellt.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of Buellt’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-buellt (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻