kingdom · British Isles

Kingdom of Elmet

450 CE – 617 CE (approx.)

Small British kingdom around Leeds that held out against the Angles until Edwin of Northumbria expelled its king Ceretic around 617.

Origins

Elmet emerged after Roman rule ended as a British kingdom in the area of modern West Yorkshire, between the Pennines and the Vale of York. It is remembered in place names such as Sherburn-in-Elmet and Barwick-in-Elmet, and a 6th-century memorial stone at Llanaelhaearn in Gwynedd names a man of Elmet.

Rule and society

Very little is known of its government. Welsh poetry praises a king Gwallawg, possibly of Elmet, who fought alongside Urien of Rheged against the Angles. The kingdom survived surrounded by the growing Anglian powers of Deira and Mercia, perhaps protected by its wooded and marshy terrain and by dyke systems such as those near Barwick.

Decline and legacy

The Historia Brittonum records that Edwin of Northumbria seized Elmet and expelled its king Ceretic, usually dated around 617. The district appears in the Tribal Hidage as the Elmetsæte, and its people were absorbed into Northumbria.

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

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻