Caer

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For the character in Irish mythology, see Caer Ibormeith.

In Welsh language, a caer or kaer was a royal residence during the 1st millennium AD or earlier. Caer can be loosely translated castle or palace or fort but no one English word captures the essence of a caer. A caer was home to a king, his royal family, and his retinue. This retinue was composed of the teulu, a warband of loyal retainers, a following of monks and scholars, and his chief advisers, and his bards who provided entertainment in music and poetry; together with their retinue of squires, artisans, servants, slaves and horses. Caers were famed for their great feasts that could last as long as a year, at which the kings and upper classes of two or several kingdoms would gather. Giving of feasts was a primary sign of wealth and status in Celtic society, at any rate in the fifth and sixth centuries.

At the same time, a caer was a defended fortress. They were often hill forts, such as the possibly-Camelot hill fort at South Cadbury in Somerset, or coastal forts such as Tintagel in Cornwall and Aberdyfi in Ceredigion.

Kings of small kingdoms, such as Ceredigion, had one caer. Kings of large kingdoms, such as Rheged, had several and migrated peripatetically among them.

A caer therefore comes functionally close to a capital city, but in the context of an almost totally non-urban society.

As an aside, Caer is the Welsh name for Chester, situated on the northeast border with England. It also forms, as a prefix, the Welsh equivalent of -caster, -cester and -chester in place names. Both forms derive ultimately from Latin castrum "fortified post", more common in the plural castra meaning "military camp".