"The Britons of Cumbria occupy a tolerably large space on the map, but a very small one in history;-their annals have entirely perished; -and nothing authentic remains concerning them, except a very few passages, wholly consisting of incidental notices relating to their subjection and their misfortunes." (Sir Francis Palgrave 1876)
elcome to the Cumbria Age of Kings website. This site is devoted to the history of Cumbria from late Roman times up until its absorption into Anglo Saxon rule (roughly 400-1066AD).  The original focus of the site was King Dunmail who was a Cumbrian king with a strong claim to the title of the last King of Cumberland. The site is slowly working it's way back to the end of Roman rule.

This task is made more difficult by the ever changing boundaries of what is now present day Cumbria. Carlisle seems to have held significance throughout this time frame so it is this town that forms the hub of definition of Cumbria with respect to this site. This site was previously called "Darkages" to represent just how difficult it is to find reliable information on Cumbria in Early Medieval times.
Disclaimer: I am not a professional historian and the information presented within this site represents my interpretations of historical events in Cumbria between 400-1066AD. I strive to find as much evidence as possible to support my theories and often post excerpts from other peoples work to support this. This does not mean that I am attempting to profit from their work rather that I respect their viewpoints and wish them to receive as wide an audience as possible.  Due to the limitations of the the internet It is often more efficient to post a small extract from a site rather than expect people to jump all over the web following hyperlinks. If you object to your work being represented in this way please let me know and I will remove the excerpts.

Mark
29th January 2003
  • Fixed some broken Links
  • Updated the time line with some information from Mike Ashley's "Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens"
  • Finally added the articles that were submitted to me by David Hughes on the origins of Cumbria and Dunmail. Good stuff.
Old News Can be found Here
Time Line  A chronological Index of Cumbrian rulers and significant events. Eventually it should have links off to individual king pages but for the present it has only one.
Old News Archived news items and emails from contributors
The Origins of Cumbria An attempt to define the geography of Cumbria 400-1066AD.
Links and Sources  
  • Links to other sites of Interest
  • The most comprehensive collection of references to King Dunmail on the internet
  • Anything at all on King Dunmail or his sons
  • Information of Northern British kings 400-1066 AD
  • A Map of the British Isles from the early 10th Century
  • Information on the North west of England 400 to 1066AD
  • Information on The kings of Strathclyde 900-1066 AD
Feel free to contact me at zensurweb@yahoo.com
END OF PAGE

1