Kingdom of Dyfed
| Kingdom of Dyfed | ||||||||||
| Teyrnas Dyfed | ||||||||||
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 Map showing Dyfed, after the late 7th century, showing its seven cantrefi.
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| Capital | Not specified | |||||||||
| Languages | Old Welsh, Vulgar Latin, Old Irish | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Established | 410 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 920 | ||||||||
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The Kingdom of Dyfed is one of several Welsh petty kingdoms that emerged in 5th-century sub-Roman Britain in southwest Wales based on the former territory of the Demetae (modern Welsh Dyfed). Following the Norman invasion of Wales between 1067–1100, the region was conquered by the Normans and by 1138 incorporated into a new shire called Pembrokeshire after the Norman castle built in the Cantref of Penfro and under the rule of the Marcher Earl of Pembroke.
In the year 360, a sudden series of coordinated raids by the Irish, Anglo-Saxons and Picts began. These continued as the Irish colonised the Isle of Man (formerly Brittonic-speaking like Wales was) and resulted in a short period lasting until the 5th century during which Old Irish was spoken in the region: twenty stones dated to this period have ogham inscriptions. One bilingual Latin-Irish stone in Castelldwyran near [Narberth] has the name Votecorigas written on it; the wordier Latin inscription is Memoria Voteporigis Protictoris, giving him the title "protector", a late Imperial Roman title given to nobility.
Dyfed may have originally occupied the area that bordered the rivers Teifi, Gwili and Tywi, and included contemporary Pembrokeshire, the western part of contemporary Carmarthenshire, and with the town of Carmarthen. Dyfed eventually comprised at least seven cantrefi: Cemais, Deugleddyf, Emlyn, Cantref Gwarthaf, Pebidiog, Penfro and Rhos, with an approximate area of about 2,284 square kilometres (882 sq mi). During times of strength, the kingdom expanded to additionally cover the Ystrad Tywi ("Valley of the Tywi"), including Cydweli and Gwyr, and even bordered Brycheiniog. Dyfed lost the Ystrad Tywi region to Ceredigion, another petty kingdom, in the late 7th century.
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