Gwent

Gwent (Old Welsh: Guent) was a medieval Welsh kingdom, lying between the Rivers Wye and Usk.It existed from the end of Roman rule in Britain in about the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.

Gwent (Old Welsh: Guent) was a medievalWelsh kingdom, lying between the Rivers Wye and Usk. It existed from the end of Roman rule in Britain in about the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century. Along with its neighbour Glywyssing, it seems to have had a great deal of cultural continuity with the earlier Silures,^[1] keeping their own courts and diocese separate from the rest of Wales until their conquest by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. Although it recovered its independence after his death in 1063, Gwent was the first of the Welsh kingdoms to be overrun following the Norman conquest.

History[edit]

Establishment[edit]

The area has been occupied since the Paleolithic, with Mesolithic finds at Goldcliff and evidence of growing activity throughout the Bronze and Iron Age.

Gwent came into being after the Romans had left Britain, and was a successor state drawing on the culture of the pre-Roman Silures tribe and ultimately a large part of their Iron Age territories. It took its name from the civitas capital of Venta Silurum, perhaps meaning 'Market of the Silures'. In the post Roman period, the territory around Venta became the successor kingdom of Guenta, later Gwent, deriving its name directly from the town through the normal sound change in the Brythonic languages from v to gu. The town itself became Caerwent, 'Fort Venta'.^[2]

Early Gwent[edit]

The medieval kingdom was traditionally^{[citation needed]} taken to be the area between the Usk, the Wye, and Severn estuary. To the north, the area adjoined Ewyas and Ergyng (later known as 'Archenfield'). According to one Old Welsh genealogy, the founder of the kingdom was Caradoc Freichfras.^{[citation needed]} The earliest centre of the kingdom may have been at Caerwent, the Roman administrative centre, or perhaps Caerleon, formerly a major Roman military base. Welsh saints like Dubricius, Tatheus and Cadoc Christianized the area from the 5th century onwards. According to tradition, in about the 6th century Caradoc moved his court from Caerwent to Portskewett, perhaps meaning nearby Sudbrook. Other suggestions are that Gwent was founded by Erb, possibly a descendant of Caradoc, who may have been a ruler of Ergyng east of the Black Mountains who won control of a wider area to the south.^[3]

A later monarch was the Christian King Tewdrig who was mortally wounded repelling a paganSaxon invasion. His son Meurig may have been responsible for uniting Gwent with Glywysing to the west in the 7th century, through marriage.^[3] It has been suggested that Meurig's son, Athrwys, may be the origin for King Arthur, although others consider this unlikely.

At times in the 8th century, Gwent and Glywysing appear to have formed a single kingdom. Gwent may also have extended east of the River Wye into areas known as Cantref Coch, which later became the Forest of Dean.^[4][5] Its eastern boundary later became established as the Wye, perhaps first determined by Offa of Mercia'sdyke in the late 8th century, and certainly by Athelstan of England in 927. The area west of the River Usk was Gwynllŵg, which formed part of Glywysing.

Morgannwg[edit]

In 931, Morgan ab Owain of Gwent, later known as Morgan Hen (Morgan the Old), was one of the Welsh rulers who submitted to Athelstan's overlordship, and attended him at court in Hereford. However, Gwent remained a distinct Welsh kingdom. In about 942, Gwent and Glywysing were again temporarily united under the name of Morgannŵg by Morgan Hen, but they were broken up again after his death. In 1034 Gwent was invaded by Canute.^[6]

Destruction[edit]

Gwent's existence as a separate kingdom again temporarily ended when Gruffydd ap Llywelynwon control of the area and Morgannŵg in 1055, so extending his rule over the whole of Wales. In 1056 Gruffyd ap Llywelyn campaigned from the vicinity of Monmouth with an army of Welsh, Saxons and Danes to defeat Ralph, Earl of Hereford, ravaging the surrounding countryside.^[7] However, after Gruffydd's death in 1063, Caradog ap Gruffudd re-established an independent kingdom in Gwent under his father's 2nd cousin Cadwgan ap Meurig.^[3] In 1065 the area was invaded by Earl Harold of Hereford, who attempted to establish a base at Portskewett, but it was razed to the ground by Caradog, and Harold - having by then been crowned King of England - was killed at the Battle of Hastings the following year.^[2]

With the Norman invasion of Britain, the Normans sacked south-east Wales and parts of Gwent in response to Eadric's Herefordshire rebellion in alliance with the Welsh prince of Gwynedd (and Powys), Bleddyn ap Cynfyn.^[8] King Maredudd of Deheubarth decided not to resist the Norman encroachment on Gwent and was rewarded with lands in England in 1070,^[9] at the same time as the chronicler Orderic Vitalis noted in his Historia Ecclesiastica that a Welsh king named 'Caducan' (Cadwgan ap Meurig) suffered defeat in battle at the hands of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford.^[10] With the Norman invasion of Wales extending westwards, Caradog's area of control moved into Deheubarth to the west, and in 1074 Caradog took over control over what was left of the war-ravaged Kingdom from Cadwgan ap Meurig.^[10]

Norman Lordships[edit]

By Caradog's death in 1081 most of Gwent had become firmly under Norman control.^[3] The Normans divided the area, including those areas which they controlled beyond the River Usk, into the Marcher Lordships of Abergavenny, Caerleon, Monmouth, Striguil (Chepstow) and Usk. Welsh law as seen through Norman eyes continued, with Marcher lords ruling sicut regale ('like a king') as stated by Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester.^[11]

The Normans lords freely built permanent stone castles, many originating from a network of earlier motte and bailey castles. The density of castles of this type and age is amongst the highest in Britain and certainly the rest of the Welsh Marches, with at least 25 castle sites remaining in Monmouthshire alone today.^[12]

Conflict with the Welsh continued intermittently, although the Welsh Lord of Caerleon, Morgan ab Owain, grandson of King Caradog ap Gruffudd, was recognized by Henry II c. 1155,^[13] with Caerleon remaining, in welsh hands, subject to occasional struggles,^[14] until William Marshal retook the castle in 1217 from Morgan ap Hywel.^[13]

Legacy[edit]

Despite the extinction of the kingdom by 1091, the name Gwent remained in use for the area by the Welsh throughout this period and later centuries. It was traditionally divided by the forested hills of Wentwood (Welsh: Coed Gwent) into Gwent Uwch-coed ('beyond the wood') and Gwent Is-coed ('below the wood'). These terms were translated into English as Overwent and Netherwent, the entire area sometimes being known as 'Wentland' or 'Gwentland'.^[12][15]

The Marcher Lordships were the basic units of administration for the next 450 or so years, until Henry VIII passed the Laws in Wales Act 1535. This Act abolished the Marcher Lordships and established the County of Monmouth, combining the Lordships east of the Usk with Newport (Gwynllŵg or Wentloog) and Caerleon to the west of it.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, writers again began using the name 'Gwent' in a romantic literary way to describe Monmouthshire. In the local government re-organisations of 1974/5, several new administrative areas within Wales were named after medieval kingdoms - Gwent, Dyfed, Powys, and Gwynedd. Gwent as a local government unit again ceased to exist in 1996, when replaced by the unitary local authorities of Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Caerphilly (which included parts of Mid Glamorgan), and Monmouthshire. The name remains as one of the preserved counties of Wales used for certain ceremonial purposes, and also survives in various titles, e.g. Gwent Police, Royal Gwent Hospital and Coleg Gwent.

References[edit]

1. ^Miranda Aldhouse-Green &al. Gwent In Prehistory and Early History: The Gwent County History, Vol.1. 2004. ISBN0-7083-1826-6.
2. ^ ^ab'South-East Wales in the Early Medieval Period'. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
3. ^ ^abcdRaymond Howell, A History of Gwent, 1988, ISBN0-86383-338-1
4. ^Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). 'Monmouthshire' . Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 729.
5. ^R. J. Mansfield, Forest Story, 1965
6. ^Thomas Nicholas, Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales
7. ^A Brief History of the Town of MonmouthArchived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 11 January 2012
8. ^Douglas, D. C., William the Conqueror, 1964: Eyre Methuen, London
9. ^John Edward Lloyd (1911) A history of Wales from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest (Longmans, Green & Co.)
10. ^ ^abOrderic Vitalis (12th Century) Historia Ecclesiastica
11. ^Nelson, Lynn H. (1966). The Normans in South Wales, 1070–1171. Austin and London: University of Texas Press.
12. ^ ^abGriffiths, Ralph A.; Hopkins, Tony; Howell, Ray (2008). The Gwent County History Vol.2: The Age of the Marcher Lords, c.1070-1536. University of Wales Press. ISBN978-0-7083-2072-3.
13. ^ ^abJenkins, Robert Thomas (1959), 'MORGAN ap HYWEL', Dictionary of Welsh Biography, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, retrieved 2016-04-12
14. ^Jermyn, Anthony. '4: Caerleon Through the Centuries to the Year 2000Archived 2013-06-20 at the Wayback Machine'. 2010 Accessed 13 Feb 2013.
15. ^'Monmouthshire - William Camden's Britannia 1695 by Edmund Gibson translated by Edward Llwyd'.

Gwent: The Witcher Card Game^[b] is a free-to-playdigital collectible card game developed and published by CD Projekt for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4,^[a] and Xbox One^[a] in 2018, for iOS in 2019, and for Android in 2020. The game is derived from the card game of the same name featured in Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher novels and playable in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game.

Gameplay[edit]

Gwent is a turn-based card game between two players, with each game taking three rounds. Each player must play one card each turn from a deck of at least twenty-five cards. Each deck belongs to a faction that offers different play styles. Each faction has different 'leaders' who each have individual abilities. As Gwent does not use a mana system like most traditional CCGs, card advantage is often what wins the game.

The Homecoming Update,^[6] which was released in conjunction with Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, changed the game in a number of ways. The leader is no longer a playable card; it now gives the player an ability, and dictates how many mulligans are available to the player throughout the course of a match. The limits on how many gold and silver cards can be in a deck has been removed. Deckbuilding now uses a Recruit Cost system. Decks have a Recruit Cap of 165, with each card in the game having a Recruit Cost associated with it. The update also removed the siege row from the play area, leaving only the melee row and the ranged row. A new card type, artifacts, was added to the game. These do not contribute points to your side of the board but offer varying abilities.

The goal is to win two of three rounds by playing cards and spells to gain points called 'power' on the board. A player wins a round by having more points on board than their opponent. Rounds end when either both players pass to the next round, or when both players run out of cards. The first to win two out of three rounds wins the game.

Round wins go toward daily rewards, awarding players with card packs known as 'kegs,' scraps, meteorite dust, or ore. Players can gain additional cards by buying kegs with ore or through microtransactions; each keg contains five cards, with the upside that the fifth is rarer than the rest and a choice between three is offered. Cards can also be crafted with scraps. Premium versions of cards can be crafted with meteorite dust. Ore is used to buy kegs.

The game features several modes of gameplay. The standard Casual Play mode allows players to challenge one another, whereas in Rank Play players compete in order to increase in a tier-ladder system. Ranked takes place across a month-long season, where players aim to increase in rank to increase end-of-season rewards. Player ranks do not degrade once earned, and work on a numerical system from 1-21, before entering into the top 1,000. Players are also assigned a matchmaking rating, which respectively increases or decreases as a player wins and loses games. Gwent has also had multiple seasonal events, inviting players to take part in themed events with premade decks. These events functioned like puzzles, where exact moves had to be made to win. Seasonal events normally award a player profile picture, border as well as a title.

It featured cross-platform play between the PC and console versions, although platform play between the console versions was not supported.^[7][8]

Arena Mode[edit]

Arena Mode functions as a draft mode, where players must build a deck from random cards. The player will pick one of four cards of identical rarity randomly shown. Twenty-six cards are drafted, and then a leader is chosen from 3 randomly shown leaders. The cards shown are from a pool of all cards, meaning decks can contain cards from all factions. There is no limit on how many gold cards or silver cards can be in the deck, and any number of duplicates can be drafted.

Arena Mode is themed around The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt character Gaunter O'Dimm [ru], who offers contracts in the arena in exchange for rewards. A maximum of nine wins will award players with a gold card, as well as other rewards including ore, scraps and/or meteorite dust. The arena will guarantee players at least one keg as a reward, even with no contracts completed. Players have three lives and lose a life when a game is lost. The arena run will end when either a player quits and breaks the contact, when all three lives are lost, or when all nine wins are achieved.

There are also periodic 'special event' arena modes occasionally available. These have unique drafting rules, such as the Gold Rush, where all cards drafted are Gold cards or Law of the Jungle, where all cards drafted are from the Monsters faction. The special events generally last 1 week, and the regular arena mode is also available to play during the event.

Thronebreaker[edit]

Combat in the video game Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales is in the form of a card-battle game similar to Gwent, but slightly different.

Development and release[edit]

The game had an estimated 100 staff members working on it.^[9] Following an open beta release in May 2017, it was officially released for Windows in October 2018, and was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on December 4, 2018. A standalone, single-player campaign mode, Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales, was also released alongside Gwent.^[10]

In March 2019, CD Projekt Red announced that Gwent would be launching on mobile devices later that year. Jason Slama, the game's director, said that the team's vision for bringing the game to them combined the best they had to offer both in terms of 'graphics and gameplay'.^[11] It released for iOS on October 29, 2019^[12] and Android on March 24, 2020.^[13]

Support for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game was ended in June 2020.^[5]

Gwent Witcher 3

Reception[edit]

Gwent was nominated for 'Most Promising New eSports Game' at the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards^[15] and for 'Best Polish Game Art' at the 2019 Digital Dragons Awards.^[16]

Notes[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdeSupport discontinued in June 2020^[5]
2. ^Gwint: Wiedźmińska Gra Karciana in Polish

References[edit]

1. ^'GWENT preview refined multiplayer'. pcgamer.com. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
2. ^'GWENT Homecoming — see what's next for GWENT'. playgwent.com. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
3. ^'Gwent's cards: testing the limits of crazy'. Venture Beat. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
4. ^Fenlon, Wes (17 June 2016). 'How Gwent became a competitive card game with singleplayer campaigns'. PCGamer. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
5. ^ ^ab'[UPDATE] IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE FUTURE OF GWENT ON CONSOLES'. GWENT: The Witcher Card Game. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
6. ^ ^ab'GWENT: The Witcher Card Game'. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
7. ^Sanchez, Miranda; Davis, Justin (13 June 2016). 'E3 2016: Gwent: The Witcher Card Game Announced'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
8. ^Gwent: The Witcher Card Game - FAQ, playgwent.com, June 6, 2017.
9. ^Schreier, Jason (18 June 2018). 'Why Cyberpunk 2077 Is Taking So Long'. Kotaku. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
10. ^Purchese, Robert (18 September 2018). 'CD Projekt Red dates full Gwent: The Witcher Card Game release, and standalone Thronebreaker adventure'. Eurogamer. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
11. ^Broadwell, Joshua (27 March 2019). 'GWENT: The Witcher Card Game Coming to Mobile Later This Year'. GameSkinny. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
12. ^Wald, Heather. 'Gwent iOS has officially launched, so you can take the Witcher card game anywhere'. GamesRadar+. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
13. ^'GWENT is live on Android! Download now on Google Play!'. GWENT: The Witcher Card Game. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
14. ^'Gwent: The Witcher Card Game for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
15. ^Trent, Logan (11 February 2019). 'Here Are Your 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards Finalists!'. South by Southwest. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
16. ^Werner, Adrian (8 April 2019). 'Nominacje do Digital Dragons Awards - Frostpunk i Thronebreaker liderami'. GRY-Online.pl. Retrieved 14 April 2019.

Gwent Free Download

External links[edit]

The Witcher 3: How To Play Gwent USgamer