The
Britons or
Brythons were the
Brythonic-Celtic-speaking people of what is now England,
Wales and southern
Scotland, whose ethnic identity is today maintained by the
Welsh,
Cornish and
Bretons. The title
Rex Britannorum (
King of the Britons) was used (often retrospectively) to refer to the most powerful ruler among the
insular Britons, both before and after the
Roman occupation up until the
Norman Conquest of England. The same title was also used to refer to some of the rulers of Brittany in the 9th century, but there it is best translated as King of the Bretons. This page concerns only rulers in Britain (with the exception of
Riothamus, who may have ruled both in Britain and on the
Continent.)