Geraint of Dumnonia

Who was Geraint of Dumnonia?

Geraint was a King of Dumnonia who ruled in the early 8th century. During his reign, it is believed that Dumnonia came repeatedly into conflict with neighbouring Anglo-Saxon Wessex. Geraint was the last recorded king of a unified Dumnonia, and was called King of the Welsh by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Subsequent kings of Dumnonia reigned over a reducing area that eventually encompassed only the present day Cornwall.

A long and rather acrimonious letter survives addressed to him from Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne on the Easter Problem and the shape of the tonsure. It is clear from this letter that in the later 7th century the Britons in Cornwall and Devon still observed Easter on the dates that the British church had calculated, at variance with Roman practice. Geraint ultimately agreed with Aldhelm to comply with Roman practice on these points. According to John of Worcester, Geraint was killed after a series of battles that culminated in a victory of the West Saxons under Ine of Wessex in 710. It was probably around this time that Devon was conquered by the West Saxons.