Caer Gloui

Founded by the Romans as Glevum, Caer Gloui was a Romano-British city which would eventually become modern day Gloucester. The city served first as the powerbase for Vortigern in the early fifth century and then as the stronghold of Ambrosius Aurelianus in the battles against the Saxons. Caer Gloui and its sister cities of Caer Baddon and Caer Ceri held out against Saxon advances for over a century but eventually fell to the West Seaxe in 577.

From 420 onwards, Caer Gloui was ruled by semi-independent magistrates, likely Romano-British nobility who gradually gained more autonomy as British central power weakened. Plague and a laeti revolt in the east meant that by the middle of the fifth century, central British authority had collapsed entirely. The magistrate of Caer Gloui, his name lost to history, now commanded much of the area around the Severn Estuary, including the cities of Caer Baddon and Caer Ceri. It is entirely possibly but also completely theoretical that this magistrate was the father of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a later Romano-British king of the region. The name of this territory has also been lost to history but it does appear to have been a cohesive political entity until the mid-fifth century.

Map showing Caer Baddon, Caer Ceri and Caer Gloui. In the mid-sixth century they become separate kingdoms but before that they would have been a single territory administered from Caer Gloui.

In 495, the Britons of Caer Gloui fought and defeated an Anglo-Saxon army led by Aelle of the Suth Seaxe in what proved to be a pivotal battle at Mons Badonicus. Defensive dykes constructed in the mid-fifth century likely channelled the invaders towards Caer Baddon where they were slaughtered in huge numbers. Not surprisingly, the various bands of Saxons, Angle and Jutes that made up Aelle’s army were severely weakened by the defeat and the British won themselves two generations of peace. The aftermath of the battle saw modest increases in the population of Caer Gloui although all of the new building was in wood and large parts of the city had long fallen into disuse.

By the mid-sixth century, the larger territory of Caer Gloui had been split into three kingdoms, probably due to the Celtic practice of dividing a kingdom between sons. This indicates a change from Romanised magistrate rule to true kingship. The three cities, however, remained closely allied and in 556 they fought an army of West Seaxe at Beran byrg (modern day Barbury Castle, near Swindon). The result is unrecorded in the Anglo-Saxon texts so it’s likely it was a British victory.

The British of the three cities and the West Seaxe under Ceawlin met again at the Battle of Deorham in 577. Despite receiving military support from the western kingdoms of Dumnonia and Glastenning, the British were defeated. Caer Gloui’s last king, Conmail, was killed, as were the kings of Caer Baddon and Caer Ceri. Caer Gloui was the last of the three cities to fall, but fall it did. The defeat was a disaster for the British. Gwent and Pengwern were separated from Dumnonia and the already beleaguered Caer Celemion was suddenly exposed on all sides.

The territory was quickly settled by the Hwicce, a mixed band of Angles and Saxons who appear to have merged with the remaining British population. British Christianity certainly survived the influx and it has been suggested that the Hwicce ruled over the Britons rather than eradicating them. The Hwicce who settled around Caer Gloui kept the city’s name but corrupted it into Gleawanceaster. Over time the name would evolve further to become Gloucester.