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Brochfael ap Meurig (ruled c.870-c.910) was king of Gwent in south-east Wales. For at least part of his reign he ruled jointly with his brother, Ffernfael ap Meurig.

Background
The boundaries and names of Welsh kingdoms varied over time in the early medieval period. In the seventh century, south-east Wales was one kingdom called Gwent, but by the ninth century it was divided between Glywysing (now Glamorgan) in the west and Gwent in the east, with the king of Glywysing having a higher status. From the early ninth century, Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom on the eastern Welsh border, claimed hegemony over Wales.

In 878, King Alfred the Great of Wessex defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington and around the same time King Ceolwulf of Mercia defeated and killed Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great), the powerful king of the north Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd. Rhodri's sons soon recovered their father's power, and in 881 they defeated Ceolwulf's successor as ruler of Mercia, Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians at the Battle of the Conwy, a victory which was described in Welsh annals as "revenge by God for Rhodri".

Family, dating and territory
The historian Wendy Davies dates Brochfael's reign as c.872-910. He and his brother Ffernfael ap Meurig were sons of Meurig ab Arthfael. Davies dates Meurig's reign as c.848-874, but Thomas Charles-Edwards thinks that he may be the Meurig whose death is recorded in the Annales Cambriae in 849. Brochfael, Ffernfael and Hywel ap Rhys, King of Glywysing, were paternal grandsons of Arthfael ap Rhys.

Historians agree that Brochfael and Ffernfael were joint kings of Gwent and Hywel was king of Glywysing, but there is no agreement on Meurig's territory. Thomas Charles-Edwards shows Meurig as king of Glywysing, whereas Patrick Sims-Williams states that there is no evidence that he had any power outside Gwent, and Davies and the genealogist Peter Bartrum think that he ruled both territories. The kingship of Glywysing seems to have been superior, and Hywel was probably an over-king allowing his cousins to rule Gwent. He gave more grants in Gwent than Glywysing, whereas Brochfael's grants were mainly confined to Gwent.

In early medieval Wales, it was common for brothers to share the kingship, and in his Life of King Alfred, the Welsh monk Asser describes Brochfael and Ffernfael as kings of Gwent. They are both listed in the Book of Llandaff as witnesses to charters of their father without royal status, but Ffernfael does not witness any charters as king, whereas several show Brochfael as a royal grantor and witness. Ffernfael may have been subordinate to Brochfael.

Kingship
Æthelred's defeat at the Conwy ended Mercian domination of north Wales, but he still violently tried to maintain his rule over the south-east. Alfred the Great became the competitor of Mercia for the allegiance of the south-eastern Welsh kings, and Æthelred's oppression drove them to voluntarily submit to Alfred and seek his protection. Æthelred himself soon followed in abandoning the attempt to maintain his independence and submitting to the West Saxon king. In the view of the historian of Wales Thomas Charles-Edwards, the Welsh kings' decision may have been a significant factor in Æthelred's decision, and thus in an important step towards the unity of England.

In his Life of King Alfred, Asser listed Brochfael among Welsh kings who submitted to King Alfred:
 * At that time [around 887], and for a considerable time before then, all the districts of right-hand [southern] Wales belonged to King Alfred, and still do.That is to say, Hyfaidd, with all the inhabitants of the kingdom of Dyfed, driven by the might of the six sons of Rhoddri [Mawr], had submitted himself to King Alfred's royal overlordship. Likewise, Hywel ap Rhys (the king of Glywysing) and Brochfael and Ffernfael (sons of Meurig and kings of Gwent), driven by the might and tyrannical behaviour of Ealdorman Æthelred and the Mercians, petitioned King Alfred of their own accord, in order to obtain lordship and protection from him in the face of their enemies.

Charters
In about 868, King Meurig surrendered the church at Tryleg and returned it to Bishop Cerennyr in the presence of his sons Brochfael and Ffernfael.

Like other Welsh kings, Brochfael had large landed estates, and he made several grants of land on the coast of the Severn Estuary. In two Llandaf charters, he granted fishing rights in estates west of Sudbrook Point.

Grants to Cyfeilliog between the 890s and 920s were all of land in Gwent, and Brochfael was the main grantor.

In about 905, there was a disagreement between Brochfael's familia (household) and Cyfeilliog's. Cyfeilliog was awarded an "insult price" "in puro auro" (in pure gold) of the worth of his face, lengthwise and breadthwise. Brochfael was unable to pay in gold and paid with six modii (about 240 acre of land at Llanfihangel instead. Around five years later, there was a dispute between Cyfeilliog and Brochfael about a church in Monmouth and its territory, and judgement was again given in Cyfeilliog's favour. Most of the grants to Cyfeilliog are from Brochfael.

Brochfael was excommunicated by a synod as a result of a dispute with Bishop Cyfeilliog.

Legacy
In the view of the historian Peter Bartrum, Brochfael was probably succeeeded as king of Gwent by Arthfael ap Hywel, the son of King Hywel ap Rhys. Arthfael is shown as king in a charter dating to about 890. The royal line descended from Meurig ended with Brochfael, but he may have been the father of Gwriad ap Brochfael. Patrick Sims-Williams says that Hywel's son Owain ap Hywel may have ruled Gwent and Glywysing from around 893, while Charles-Edwards thinks that both kingdoms were probably ruled by Owain by 918. Manuscript D of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 927 Owain, king of the people of Gwent, was one of the British rulers who submitted to Æthelstan.