But Book VIII, section XX of The Gothic War is remarkable for the extended nature of its fanciful and implausible content, portions of which even Procopius dismisses as mythological and untrustworthy. What is the purpose of such digressions? Plainly some of them are written in the style of Milesian fables to titillate and amuse the audience, complete with exotic locales and outlandish barbarians. Yet on the whole, Procopius’ narrative on Brittia and Britannia reveals real, if warped details about the political settlements of Britain in the 6th century, details that are independently corroborated by other contemporary sources, namely Gildas and Gregory of Tours, as well as archaeological evidence from the late 20th century.

 Procopius begins section XX with an account of a war between the Warini, who were closely associated with the Thuringians and may have confederated with them, and the Angles of “Brittia”, an island which Procopius describes as the latter’s home and residence. He states that Brittia is inhabited by three nations, the Angles, the Frisians, and Britons. The exclusion of the Saxons is less problematic than it seems. Julian was the first classical author writing in Greek to mention the Saxons and he was campaigning along the Rhine when he wrote of them. A century and a half later, Zosimus reused the term, but exclusively in reference to Julian’s campaigns. It was typically Western authors writing in Latin who specified the Saxons as a distinct people and assigned them specific ethnic and cultural traits.

 By Frisians, Procopius means the Saxons, or at least includes them under this definition. In the 5th century, linguistic, archaeological, and toponymic evidence strongly indicate the historic region of Frisia received a major migration of Saxons. Procopius’ information came from a Frankish embassy that included individual Angles, so it is hardly surprising the latter are mentioned by Procopius as a distinct people. The Franks themselves were a highly Romanized people familiar with classical ethnographic traditions, and continued referring to the newcomers to Frisia as Frisians in a classicising archaism.

 At the time of the embassy, the Franks recognized the imperial authority of Constantinople, a recognition that was purely formal given their conflicts during the same period. As part of this modus vivendi, the Franks wished for the Eastern Roman government to recognize their authority over other former regions and inhabitants of the Western Empire and Procopius observes the Franks tried to claim authority over Brittia by claiming that Angles, Frisians, and Britons were migrating into Frankish territory.

The Irish historian E.A Thompson argued persuasively in 1980 that by “Britannia”, Procopius was actually referring to Armorica, where so many Britons had settled that in 567 at the Council of Tours, the inhabitants of Armorica were categorized as either “Britons” or “Romans” by clerical authorities. For this reason, the Franks had come to refer to Armorica as Britannia by the time of their embassy to Justinian. Gregory of Tours goes so far as to claim it had been under the dominion of the Franks since the death of Clovis, only to contradict himself later in his descriptions of endemic warfare between the Bretons and Frankish successors of Clovis. While there was little the Eastern Roman government could do to assist the Franks in subduing Armorica, apart from providing money, Constantinople’s recognition of their authority would have provided the Franks with a potent propaganda weapon against Armorican independence, particularly in the religious sphere.

The migration of Britons from Britain into Armorica was a straightforward historical reality. Gildas alludes to this when speaking of the British reaction to the Saxon revolt against the Superbus Tyrannus: “...some others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation. ‘Thou hast given us as sheep to be slaughtered, and among the Gentiles hast thou dispersed us.’ ” Procopius seems to understand that he is repeating Frankish propaganda when he states, “And the Franks allow them to settle in the part of their land which appears to be more deserted, and by this means they say they are winning over the island.”

Let us examine Procopius’ claim of the Angles and Frisians migrating to Frankish territory. We know from both Sidonius Apollinaris and Gregory of Tours that the Saxons were very active in Gaul in the 5th century. Sidonius’ language about their depredations mirrors that of Gildas and the Saxon penetration of the Loire Valley played an important role in the war between the Goths and the Romano-Frankish coalition circa 470AD. It is unknown if these Saxons came from settlements in Britain or directly from the Continental periphery of the North Sea. Since Procopius is speaking of events in the mid 6th century, we must exclude the activities of these 5th century Saxons.

Procopius states that the migration of Angles, “Frisians” (aka Saxons) and Britons to the continent was due to overpopulation. Gildas offers an explanation for the ongoing migration of Britons so as to escape military conflict. This may have caused Angle and Saxon migration to Gaul as well. We must also consider two other well attested causes. The first was the major cooling event of 536, possibly of volcanic origin, the consequences of which were recorded throughout Eurasia. The Annals of Ulster recall “A failure of bread” for the year 536 and Book of the Later Han records famine for that year. Two years later, Cassiodorus in his letters describes the famine resulting in Italy from the dimming of the sun.

The second major event was the Plague of Justinian, whose fearful mortality was recorded by Procopius among others. Maelgwyn Gwynedd, whom Gildas described as the “Dragon of the island” famously died of this affliction in 547 AD. The Angles and Saxons did not escape unscathed either, as the excavation of plague victims from the Edix Hill archaeological site in Cambridgeshire revealed. It is likely that a combination of warfare, famine, and plague drove Britons, Angles, and Saxons alike from Britain in search of safety and new lands to cultivate.

Gaul was no less impacted than Britain by these phenomena and in inviting new settlers into the “agri deserti”, the Franks followed the Roman practice of settling “barbarians” to abandoned lands in order to cultivate the soil and provide military manpower. Julian used the same administrative mechanism to settle the Salian Franks in Northeastern Gaul two centuries earlier. Indeed Gregory speaks of the “Saxones Baiocassinos” settled in the vicinity of modern day Bayeux and Bessin who provided military manpower for the Merovingians against the Bretons of Armorica.

Lastly, there is a Continental Saxon tradition of Saxon back migration from Britain to the continent and of military conflict with a continental Germanic population. It is much darker than the amusing story related by Procopius. The earliest to record this tradition was Rudolf of Fulda, a 9th century Carolingian monk. Widukind of Corvey, a continental Saxon chronicler of the 10th century, articulated a more detailed version. During a war between King Theuderic of the Franks and King Irminfrid of the Thuringians, a body of Saxons sailed to Northern Germany from Britain. On behalf of Theuderic, the Saxons attacked and defeated the Thuringians outside the walls of Burgscheidungen in what is now Saxony-Anhalt. Upon learning of Irminfrid’s attempt to make terms with Theuderic in order to drive away the Saxons, the latter, under the leadership of the warrior Hathatgat, stormed Burgscheidungen, massacred the Thuringians, and raped their womenfolk. Afterwards, the Saxons erected altars of victory and acclaimed Hathatgat as a great war leader.

The writings of Rudolf and Widukind parallel and diverge from that of Procopius in notable ways. The East Roman historian writes that the Warini pressured Prince Radigis to marry his father’s widow, Theudechild, sister of king Theudebert, while Rudolf and Widukind record that the Frankish king allied to the Saxons was Theuderic, Theudebert’s father. Widukind asserts a precise date of October 1, 531AD, placing the Saxon inflicted massacre of the Thuringians somewhat earlier than the Anglian war against the Warini. As mentioned earlier, the Warini were closely associated with the Thuringians if not a subset of them, so if Widukind preserves an accurate tradition, their manpower must have survived the Thuringian defeat and the Warini came to an accommodation with the Franks that culminated in a marital alliance.

But even if he preserved a genuine memory of a Saxon back migration, Widukind arouses suspicion for three specific reasons, among many others. He was writing four centuries after the putative events he recounts, while the contemporary or near contemporary sources of Procopius, Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus all ascribe the Thuringian defeat solely to the Franks. Procopius’ version is to be preferred since he was likely present when Belisarius captured Irminfrid’s wife and children in Italy and sent them to Constantinople. Secondly, the chief purpose of Widukind’s chronicle was to glorify the Ottonian dynasty and its supposed origins. Thirdly, the chronicle includes a legendary element also found in Nennius’ early Historia Brittonum, namely the Saxons deceiving the the locals into granting them land for a fortress, though in Widukind’s chronicle they so do by scattering dirt rather than cutting up oxhide. Widukind has the Saxons subsequently betray the Thuringians at a parley by killing them with long knives, before referring to Bede’s account of the Adventus Saxonum in Britain.

While Procopius’ narrative of Angles and Saxons leaving Britain is eminently plausible, it is his subsequent observations on “Brittia” (as distinct from “Britannia”) that defy credulity. Procopius claims that in ancient times, a great wall was built in Britain, dividing the island in two. The Eastern region is pleasant and amenable to human habitation while the Western region is so pestilential that men and even wild animals crossing from east to west will die within half an hour. We will give only a cursory examination of Procopius’ digression of fisherman ferrying the ghosts of the dead to Brittia since he explicitly informs readers they should treat this as mythology. This was a long standing attitude held by the Mediterranean world about Britain and typical of Procopius’ classicizing topoi. The possible connection of this story to traditional insular Celtic mythology is worthy of mention but outside the scope of this writing.

In regards to his statements on a wall dividing Brittia, this has often been taken as a garbled account of Hadrian’s Wall. It is interesting to consider the possibility that Procopius, who was so well informed of events as far away as Central Asia, should have had such unreliable and degenerated information about Hadrian’s Wall. Gildas seems to have thought it was constructed by the Romans shortly before they withdrew from Britain; Bede, who lived close by the wall and personally observed it, follows Gildas’ account.

When reading Procopius’ account of Brittia in particular, we should remember he is using information received from Angles in the Frankish embassy to Constantinople. Hence we get an obviously exaggerated size of 100,000 men in 400 (rowed!) ships for the punitive Anglian military expedition against the Warini, and the comically humiliating account of Radigis hiding from his spurned Anglian fiancee. Likewise, we should treat the account of the wall as an Anglian narrative. When considering that the Angles and Saxons settled the eastern seaboard of Britain, it makes sense they would regard the eastern part of “Brittia” to be the most desireable and indeed the lowland portions of Eastern Britain contain the most fertile and arable land on the island.

But what was the nature of the wall itself and why was the Western portion of “Brittia” described in such foreboding terms? Clearly it cannot be Hadrian’s Wall. Procopius makes no connection to Hadrian’s construction and anyways Gildas and Bede understood the wall to run from east to west, as opposed to the north-south configuration in Procopius’ account. Archaeology provides a credible solution. Peter Wade-Martins was County field archaeologist for Norfolk from 1973-1996. During his active career, he made detailed studies of earthworks in Norfolk and Eastern England. Five ditches he studied of Sub-Roman provenance are of interest to this writing: Fossditch, Bichandtich, Launditch, Panworth Ditch, and Devil’s Ditch.

These ditches today exist in a fragmentary form but were likely part of a more extensive system of earthworks during their original construction. They may not have been contiguous due to topographic features such as marshes, hedgerows and sunken lanes. Each was built roughly along a north-south axis. Exactly who built these ditches, whether these be Anglo-Saxon settlers, or Sub-Roman Brittonic authorities is unclear. Three other Sub-Roman dyke constructions in Cambridgeshire are of note, Bran Ditch, Fleam Dyke, and Brent ditch which run parallel on northwest to southeast axes. To the east of these in Suffolk is the Black Ditches earthwork, built along a north-south axis. These four ditches are believed to be constructed by early Anglo-Saxons.

With these earthworks in mind, the Anglian narrative preserved by Procopius becomes coherent. A system of dykes and ramparts roughly divided the boundaries between the Anglo-Saxon population and the Brittonic populations. A hard boundary akin to modern national frontiers is unlikely, but salients and dykes intersecting Roman roads could have impeded supplies and reinforcements to settlements near the earthworks and even forced the abandonment of cities without needing to storm them. From an Anglian perspective, westward movement would have been met with armed force and if Procopius was correct in claiming they lacked cavalry, attempts to breach Brittonic earthworks or cross over from their own with infantry would be more easily detected beforehand.

The earthworks served another purpose. Even more so than deterring enemy attack, they could block the livestock of hostile neighbors from grazing in one’s own territory or hinder the ability of raiders to steal animals from friendly territory. Armed bodies of men would have struggled to bring the requisite herds needed to sustain them for an extended campaign over the ditches and ramparts in a timely fashion. These would have all been important considerations for the early Anglo-Saxons who chiefly measured their wealth in cattle.

If the Anglian envoys in the embassy to Constantinople boasted of their military prowess over the Warini, they may not have admitted to being confined to Eastern Britain by the resistance of another population and instead invented tales of a poisoned land oddly reminiscent, if only by coincidence, of the Wasteland from Grail legend. Alternatively, they may simply have been misunderstood through linguistic and cultural barriers.

The division of territory in Britain is alluded to by Gildas. In DECB, he speaks of an “unhappy partition with the barbarians” (lugubre divortium barbarorum), an ambiguous comment meant as an aside in a passage about Christian martyrs during the later Roman persecutions. The simplest explanation is that he was implying a territorial division with the barbarians. Patrick Sims-Williams has argued that we should not think of the partition as a fixed line across a map. Given the tribalistic nature of the Britons and their tendency towards infighting and the opportunistic and contingent nature of the Anglo-Saxon settlement, it seems likely that the partition only roughly corresponded to a geographic division. There were perhaps Anglo-Saxon enclaves in the west and likely Brittonic enclaves in the east, a notion supported by Brittonic origin toponyms in Eastern Britain as pointed out by Nicholas Higham.

In conclusion, Procopius’ otherworldly and mystifying statements about “Britannia” and “Brittia” make sense when considering the writings of Gildas, Gregory and other contemporaneous authors along with known archaeological evidence. Britannia is Armorica, so named for the extensive Brittonic migration to the region and Brittia is the island of Britain. In addition the movement of Angles and Saxons back to the continent is corroborated by Gregory of Tours and circumstantially supported by concurrent pressures of plague, famine, and warfare. We may infer that Procopius’ description of a wall dividing Britain reflects the political conditions at the time; namely that military resistance by the Brittonic inhabitants imposed either a de jure or de facto settlement with the Anglo-Saxons that resulted in a partition, perhaps in the aftermath of the British victory at Badon.

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Where was King Arthur and his famous battles?

The earliest references to Arthur are found in material relating to the Hen Ogledd (Northern England & Southern Scotland). The most common example is the Bardic poem “Yr Gododdin” by Aneurin: “He fed black ravens on the rampart of a fortress. Though he was no Arthur” The Arthurian period is typically dated to the late 5th and early 6th century. In the later 6th century we see a rapid popularisation of the name Arthur attesting to the historicity of a prominent earlier figure. Arthrwys ap Mar is the only candidate that fits this chronology.

Arthrwys appears in the genealogies of Coel Hen, the founder of a Northern empire. Coel’s descendants ruled over Kingdoms such as Ebrauc (York), Rheged (Carlisle) and Elmet (Leeds). In Welsh tradition Peredur, and thus also his grandfather Arthrwys, is associated with Ebrauc. Post-Roman kingdoms commonly emerged from Roman and pre-Roman territories e.g. Votadini became Gododdin, Novantae became Nouant & Damnonii became Strathclyde. The core territories of the Coeling dynasty all fall within the boundaries of the Brigantes in Northern England. During the Roman period the highly militarised zone of the Brigantes was ruled by the “Dux Britanniarum” from Ebrauc. Kenneth Dark has demonstrated that the forts of the Dux were reoccupied and redeveloped in the post-Roman period by a group of powerful and high status Britons.

Most Roman forts were abandoned all over Britain but Dark observed "that out of at most 16 sites with later 5th-6th century evidence no fewer than 14 had probably been under the command of the Dux Britanniarum at the end of the 4th century". It was Coel Hen that founded and organised this new empire, especially around the northern frontier around Hadrian’s Wall. His epithet “Godebog” meaning “protector” illustrates his motivations. The intervallate Britons, Picts, Scots and later Angles posed a continual threat.

It is apparent that despite the existence of numerous petty kingdoms and over kingdoms within the territory of the Brigantes, there was a Coeling elite ruled by a single “supreme guledig” or High King. Arthrwys was one such “Prince of the Brigantes” (See Brigomaglos Stone).

Before we begin our survey of Arthur’s battle sites it is important to add context and understand who the traditional enemy of the Coeling and Arthur was. John Koch’s illuminating work on “Yr Gododdin” provides us with a quick summary. The Battle of Catraeth saw an alliance of Cynwydion Britons (Gododdin & Strathclyde) and their federate Angles of Bernicia raiding a stronghold of the Coeling. “The army of Gododdin and Bernicia (& Strathclyde)” “went down into Brigantia” where “they fought for land against the descendants of Godebog (Coel Hen)”.

A warrior characterised as “the avenger of Aeron” reveals the cassus belli for Catraeth. The Coeling, under Arthrwys and later Urien, had recently annexed the territories of Nouant (Galloway) and Aeron (Ayr). Clearly both factions were vying for control of the intervallate zone.

In Arthur’s time the ruler of Strathclyde was a Pictish conqueror warlord named Caw. He fathered the well known writer Gildas and the traditional enemy of Arthur named Hueil.

Gododdin was ruled by Cadleu ap Cadell (Father of King Lot). In later decades Gododdin was a client of Strathclyde and this may have been the case even at this time. “Picts” and “Saxons” colluding was also a recorded phenomena as far back as the “Great Conspiracy” in 367. It was probably Cadleu (and perhaps Caw) that originally invited the Angle mercenaries used by their descendants at Catraeth. The Angles were encouraged to settle the Gododdin territory called Bryneich (which later became Bernicia) in exchange for their military services.

The 9th century Historia Brittonum by Nennius contains the famous Chapter 56 that lists Arthur’s battles. It begins with an account of the legendary “Octa” “from the northern part of Britain”. It suggests Octa came to Kent in the South where the battles with Arthur occurred.

After detailing the battles (which we will see are actually all Northern) the chapter concludes with Arthur’s ultimate victory over the “Saxons” who ceased to be a threat until “the time in which Ida reigned, who was son of Eobba. He was the first king in Bernicia”.

This ending relating to a distinctly Northern King of Bernicia only makes sense in a Northern context and doesn’t logically follow the events allegedly in the South. Amongst other things this has prompted various historians such as Dumville, Hunter-Blair and Marsden to reassess. Earlier in the HB, Hengist states “I will send for my son and his brother... ...you can give them the countries in the north, near the wall called Gual... ...Octa and Ebusa arrived with forty ships.”

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 547 states “Ida began to reign, from whom arose the royal race of Northumbria… ...Ida was the son of Eoppa, Eoppa of Oesa”. The HB also gives this genealogy of Ida son of Eobba son of Ossa. Some detective work by the Arthur sceptic David Dumville uncovered a previously unknown entry in a manuscript that was found in Bern, France. “547 Ida begins to reign, who was son of Eoppa, son of Oesa. That Oessa first came to Britain.” This entry confirms that Ossa and Eobba were the first settlers of Bernicia. The obvious similarity in the names Ossa-Octa and Eobba-Ebissa has lead scholars such as Hunter-Blair to conclude that Nennius confused them in his Historia Brittonum.

The entries in HB that state Octa and Ebussa settled in the North near the Wall and fought Arthur should be correctly attributed to Ossa and Eobba. This neatly explains the relevance of the Arthur battle chapter ending in a reference to Ida (because he was son of Eobba). Therefore the events recounted in the Historia Brittonum actually depict Arthur winning a series of victories against Ossa and Eobba before Ida recovers Anglian prospects two generations later. Ida’s floruit of 547 puts Ossa’s floruit in the 490’s, the exact date of Badon.

Furthermore a separate Welsh tradition recorded in a confused entry of the “Bonedd y Sant” confirms exactly our conclusion. “Ida Great Knee... ...son of Ossa Great Knife, King of England, the warlike man who contended with Arthur at the battle of Badon.” Now we have confirmed that Arthur’s enemies Caw in Strathclyde and Ossa in Bernicia were also Northern we can examine the battles and locations associated with Arthur himself.

The first source we will analyse is an archaic early poem by Taliesin called “Cadeir Teyrnon” or “Chair of the Prince”. “Arthur the blessed” is the subject of the poem. He is said to be “from the stock of Aladur”. Inscriptions to a Romano-British War God “Mars Alator” reveal this to be a poetic theonym for Arthur’s warlike nature but perhaps also his descent from his father “Mar”.

The poem alludes to the idea that Arthur rose to prominence around “the old renowned boundary” which in the Hen Ogledd where Taliesin was active is almost definitely Hadrian’s Wall. “From the loricated Legion, Arose the Guledig (High King), Around the old renowned boundary.” Significantly the poem gives us a precise location and role for Arthur “Reon rechtur” which means “steward of Rheon”. It goes on to tell us Arthur launched raids on his enemy Caw of Strathclyde from this staging post.

”his red armour, and his host attacking over the rampart... ...He bore off from Cawrnur pale harnessed horses”.

In another Taliesin poem “Marwnat Uthyr Pen” Arthur and possibly his son Eleuther are described “with vigorous swordstroke against Cawrnur’s sons”. This confirms the traditional rivalry Arthur had with Caw and his son Hueil recorded elsewhere. More importantly if we can identify “Rheon” it can help us locate Arthur’s early battles. Luckily in this case there is a near scholarly consensus.

The triad entry “Arthur as Chief of Princes in Pen Rhionydd in the North” (Also spelled “Ryonyd” & “Rioned”) has been identified with “Rheon”. Watson first suggested “Ryonyd” could be further identified with Ptolemy’s “Rerigonion” (=> Rigon => Rion) meaning “Very royal place”.

“Rerigonion” was the tribal capital of the Novantae definitively located in the Rhinns of Galloway peninsula near Stranraer. Thus the location “Pen Ryoned” and “Reon” are also located there. The name “Ryonyd” is preserved in the modern place name “Loch Ryan”.

The exact location of the settlement within the Rhins of Galloway hasn’t been pinpointed but Robert Vaughan suggested the Mull of Galloway. The headland has extensive earthwork fortifications that make it the largest ancient enclosed site (and most southerly point) in Scotland.

Why would Arthur be relegated to this peripheral edge you might ask? In the late 5th century and early 6th century the Coeling annexed this region known as Nouant which was previously ruled by Strathclyde. The missionary Saint Ninian set up his monastery near “Reon” at Whithorn.

@ActualAurochs has uncovered a vital piece of the puzzle hidden in the notoriously unreliable work of Geoffrey of Monmouth. A section of Geoffrey’s embellished and confused historia discusses figures named “Morvidus”, “Gorbonian”, “Arthgallo”, “Elidure” and “Peredur”.

Transparently these names correspond to the historically attested Kings of Ebrauc: Mar (Arthur’s father), Garbanian (Arthur’s grand uncle), Arthrwys (Arthur), Eleuther (Arthur’s son) and Peredur (Arthur’s grandson). As @ActualAurochs has demonstrated, it is likely Geoffrey derived these passages by expanding a brief Northern Annal now lost to us. Geoffrey’s narrative indicates that Mar died when Arthrwys was young and so his senior grand uncle Garbanian ruled in his place as regent.

Geoffrey also includes some locations which have the ring of truth about them. Whilst Garbanian ruled, a young Arthrwys was wandering in the Forest of Calaterium (Celidon) somewhere near Alt Clut (Strathclyde). When Garbanian died, Arthrwys returned to York to be crowned. A separate genealogical tradition records an “Arthrwys ap Garmon (Garbanian)”. This corruption (Arthrwys is son of Mar not Garbanian) has a common ancestor with Geoffrey’s narrative which is probably the same lost northern annal showing Arthrwys ruled after his great uncle.

The Historia Brittonum Chapter 56 listing Arthur’s battles implies that Arthur was not the most senior royal but was appointed as “Dux Bellorum” meaning “Duke of Battles”. From all this information we can synthesise a probable chronology for Arthur’s early career. Garbanian appoints a young Arthur as “Duke of Battles” and sends him to “the old renowned boundary” and northern frontier of Hadrian’s Wall. He is also appointed as the steward of the newly acquired Coeling territory of Nouant.

Arthur is tasked with protecting the sanctuary of Ninian and repelling Caw as well as the other opponents of the Coeling. Shortly after his campaigning within the forest of Calatarium (Celidon) he returns to York to be crowned King after Garbanian’s death. Most scholars agree that the battle list recorded in the HB is based on an older bardic source as it retains a rhyming scheme. This lends credibility to the authenticity of the list as this kind of battle list poem was commonly produced for other notable leaders of the period.

The HB battle list chapter implies all of Arthur’s battles were against “Saxons” but this is unlikely. The original northern battle poem likely referred to a range of enemies including Ossa, Caw and others. For the sake of brevity I will only state my preferred battle locations.

“His first battle was at the mouth of the river which is called Glein”. The River Glen in Northumberland at the foot of early site of Angle settlement (Yeavering Bell Hill Fort) and close to a mainline Roman road is an attractive option but I favour another location. We know Arthur was probably based in the West around Loch Ryan in his early career as “Reon rechtur” and “Dux Bellorum” where he saw conflict with Caw. Between “Reon” and Caw in Strathclyde sits another river called the “Glen Water” also on a Roman road.

The Glen Water flows into the Irvine at Darvel within the contested territory of “Aeron” (later annexed by the Coeling). This location suits a raid by a young Arthur to “bore off from Cawrnur pale harnessed horses”. It also fits better geographically with the next battles.

“His second, third, fourth, and fifth battles were above another river which is called Dubglas and is in the region of Linnuis”. Kenneth Jackson, in an article in Modern Philology, determined that Linnuis derives from Lindenses, meaning “the people of Lindum”. This has been assumed by most to refer to Lincoln which was recorded as “Lindum” by Ptolemy. Unfortunately however there is no River “Dubglas” near Lincoln which would be rendered as “Douglas” in a modern place name. Fortunately Ptolemy does list a second “Lindum” within the territory of the Damnoni (Strathclyde). The inaccuracy of Ptolemy, especially within Scotland, means that this “Lindum” (Linnuis) hasn’t been conclusively identified.

There is however a River Douglas (Dubglas) that runs within the boundaries of the same Kingdom. This river Dubglas lies only a short distance to the East from the site of our first battle at the mouth of the River Glein.

There was a series of intense battles at shallow fording points, Arthur’s forces probed the defences of Strathclyde. Where the River Douglas flows into the River Clyde near Lanark there is a series of “Linn-” place names which may account for our “Lindum” and “Linnuis”.

Linnhead, Linnville, Linn Mill, Linn Burn, Lesser Linn, Linnside all occur in a small area. These names derive from the nearby famous Falls of Clyde which is a series of waterfalls called Bonnington Linn, Corra Linn, Dundaff Linn, Stonebyres Linn.

“Linn-” is a Brythonic place name element that means “Pool of Water”. It is apparent that this region could easily have been referred to as “Linnuis” meaning “People of the Waterfalls” which would be an apt name for the Strathclyders near the Falls of Clyde and River Dubglas.

The next two battles listed by Nennius are the most difficult and the most straightforward to identify. To aid identification of the tricky 6th battle we shall first look at the easier 7th battle. “The seventh battle was in the forest of Celidon, that is Cat Coit Celidon.” There is little doubt amongst scholars that “Celidon” refers to an area North of Hadrian’s Wall in what was once dubbed “Caledonia” by the Romans. The term “Caledonia” originally referred to just the highlands of Scotland but later saw more general use for Scotland as a whole.

However in the traditions of the Hen Ogledd it came to refer to a more specific location. The early Welsh poetry of Myrddin Llallogan (Merlin) retells the story of the bard that became a prophetic madman after witnessing slaughter at the Battle of Arfderydd (Arthuret).

After the battle Myrddin fled to “Coed Celyddon” to be hunted by Rhydderch Hael the King of Strathclyde. With only woodland creatures for companionship Myrddin wandered Celyddon lamenting his cursed fate. Myrddin was captured by a King Meldred who kept him in chains at Castellum Dunmeller to extract prophecies. “Castellum Dunmeller” is the modern Tinnis Castle Hillfort above Drumelzier. Myrddin prophesized his own triple death “Pierced by a stake, suffering stone and wave”.

Killed by King Meldred’s shepherds, Myrddin was buried “at the junction of the Powsail with the Tweed”. The tales that associate Myrddin with Tweeddale tell us this valley was possibly considered synonymous with “Coed Celyddon” or the “Forest of Celidon”.

Even in death Myrddin’s prophecies continued. Another local wizard named “Thomas the Rhymer”, whom we shall return to later, supposedly foretold the union of the crowns “When Tweed and Powsail meet at Merlin's grave, Scotland and England that day ae king shall have”. Confirmation of identifying Tweeddale with Celidon can be found in the 15th century work of Scottish Historian Hector Boece commenting on the source of the river Clyde “risis out of the samin montane within the wood of Calidone”. To this day the source of the River Clyde and Tweed both emanate from within the same forest. This is confirmation that upper Tweeddale was also considered Celidon. A third confirmation comes in the form of place name evidence.

In lower Tweeddale near Galashiels the “Caddon Water” flows into the Tweed near “Caddonfoot” and “Caddonlee”. These were recorded as “Keledenlee” in 1175 and “Keledene” in 1296. This “Keleden” almost definitely derives from “Celidon”.

The name element also occurs at “Caddon Bank” in middle Tweeddale. It seems therefore that the ancient name “Celidon” was considered the entire Tweed Valley in Arthur’s time. We will return to the exact battle site after establishing the site of Arthur’s difficult 6th battle.

“The sixth battle was above the river which is called Bassas”. This battle has long vexed scholars as there exists no compelling candidate anywhere in Britain, this has lead many to conclude it is impossible to locatable. But if we assess the geography of our located battles we see that they exist on a linear East-West axis suggesting the first seven battles were a part of the same campaign. This raises the possibility that the river “Bassas” exists on this axis between Dubglas and Celidon.

Andrew Breeze notes there is few known credible Brythonic “Bassas” hydronyms and suggests this may be due to a simple scribal copying error. The only known form that resembles “Bassas” whilst satisfying the underlying poems rhyming scheme is “Tarras” meaning “powerful”. Breeze goes on to note the ease at which such a copying error could be made, the characters “t”-“b” and “r”-”s” in insular script are “strikingly similar” and so easily misinterpreted. In 1172 Carstairs near Lanark was recorded as “Castel Tarras”. This “Castel Tarras” sits on an important river crossing on a Roman road that blocks access to the heart of the Kingdom of Strathclyde. It sits roughly on the axis between Dubglas and Celidon and is therefore a strong candidate for the location of Arthur’s sixth battle.

The obvious route from “Castel Tarras” for Arthur’s westwards campaign to proceed to Celidon (Tweed Valley) is following the Roman road to the Lyne Roman Fort near Peebles where the River Lyne flows into the Tweed. This is the probable site for Arthur’s 7th battle.

There are two significant toponyms that also indicate this was the Celidon battle site. A hill fort overlooks this section of the Tweed Valley called “Cademuir” which means “Battle Moor”. At the foot of “Cademuir” is “Arter Brae”, which possibly remembers Arthur himself.

This point in the Tweed Valley is a point of natural convergence if a combined force from Gododdin and Bernicia (Cadleu and Ossa) were mustering to meet a threat from the West. This marks Arthur’s first conflict with the “Saxons” but the last battle of this first campaign.

I believe these first seven battles were all in a single campaign by a young Arthur testing his enemies defences. A short march up the coast from “Reon” to “Glein” he first met Caw’s forces. Feigning a retreat Arthur dropped back slightly southwards to the Aeron valley. At the head of the Aeron Valley Arthur joined the source of the River “Dubglas” where downstream near the Falls of Clyde (Linnuis) Caw’s forces again pursued Arthur and clashed at four fords.

Abandoning all subtlety Arthur made for the main road into Strathclyde where he punched through Caw’s defences at Tarras. Satisfied with his raid on Caw, he continued marching west where he met a new threat for the first time in the form of “Saxon” federates of Gododdin. The battle in the Forest of “Celidon” was a fierce contest against a new and unfamiliar enemy which is why it was remembered in the lost northern annal. After this battle Arthur returned to his post at “Reon” to celebrate a successful campaign with his newly acquired plunder.

Arthur’s enemies were perturbed by his audacious campaign into their territories and so they hatched a revenge plot.

Andrew Breeze once again provides a solution to the place name “Guinnion”. The name of Coeling missionary “Ninian” in its original form is “Uinnian” or “Gwynion”. We already know that part of Arthur’s duty as “Reon rechtur” was sheltering the sanctuary of Ninian at Whithorn. This also neatly explains the overtly religious nature of the description. The “pagans” could refer to any of Arthur’s northern rivals who were all superficially Christian at most or explicitly Pagan. Caw the Pict is a likely candidate for this revenge raid. There is no surviving “Guinnion” place name near Whithorn, however very nearby is the interesting fortification known as “Rispain Camp” (From “Rhwospen” = “chief of the cultivated country”). I believe this could be Ninian’s Fort and the 8th battle site.

The ninth battle was a significant turning point for Arthur and may have been part of the same retaliatory strike against him as “Guinnion”, but this time occurring in the east and conducted by the formidable new opponent “Ossa” in collaboration with Gododdin. “The ninth battle was waged in the City of the Legion”. There were three legionary fortresses in Britain: York, Chester and Caerleon-upon-Usk. To determine which of these three we must examine the Latin used by Nennius. In one manuscript “urbe Legionis” (City of the Legion). In another manuscript with an additional “quae bryttanicae Cair Lion dicitur” meaning “which in Brittonic is called Caer Lion”.

Gildas also mentions an “urbs Legionum” lamenting the inaccessibility or destruction of saintly shrines “whose places of burial and of martyrdom, had they not for our manifold crimes been interfered with and destroyed by the barbarians” Field made a strong case that of the three possibilities only York fits the language of Gildas. The term “urbs” is only applicable to major administrative cities, the second term “Legionum” is a plural for multiple legions. Both of these can only be York. As well as being known as Ebrauc, York was also known as Urbs Legionis and Caer Leon meaning “City of the Legion” in Latin and Brythonic respectively. We already know that after the campaign in Celidon Arthur returns to the Coeling capital of York upon Garbanian’s death.

Ossa commanded a fleet of forty ships manned by experienced sea raiders. As a part of the retaliation for Arthur’s raid I believe Gododdin-Bernicia simply sailed around Hadrian’s Wall and sacked York, destroying the shrines mentioned by Gildas and killing High King Garbanian. After hearing the devastation inflicted upon Caer Leon Arthur marched back to the city and liberated it from the “Saxons” who fled back North. Interestingly Geoffrey of Monmouth even devotes an entire chapter to Arthur rebuilding York especially its devastated sacred shrines.

As Ken Dark notes, all that is known archaeologically about the “Anglian Tower” in York is that it is post-Roman and pre-9th century. It is a real (if speculative) possibility this was part of Arthur’s re-fortification after the Battle of Urbes Legionis.

If York was known as “Urbes Legionis” in Latin and thus “Caer Leon” in Brythonic, as I believe it was, this may explain the later association between Arthur and Caerleon-upon-Usk in Geoffrey of Monmouth and the early romances. This is an understandable confusion. The early French romanticist Chretian de Troyes also strongly held “Caer Leon” to be a court of Arthur. Chretian was also the first writer to mention “Camelot” in his work “Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart”.

“Upon a certain Ascension Day King Arthur had come from Caerleon, and had held a very magnificent court at Camelot as was fitting on such a day.” Chretian’s sources are unknown, possibly Breton folk tradition, but even here there may be some truth.

Ptolemy listed a “Camulodunum” among the settlements of the Brigantes somewhere near Ebrauc. Called “Campodunum” in other sources and located in various places but it hasn’t yet been solidly identified.

After the Anglian King Edwin absorbed Ebrauc and Elmet (with the blessing of the Coeling Rhun ap Urien) Bede notes “he built a church in Campodonum” “in the Country called Loidis” “which is in Elmet wood”. One possibly location of this Camulodunum is Barwick-in-Elmet Hill Fort near Loidis (Leeds). It was potentially the capital of Elmet and held by a proto-Lancelot (Arthrwys’ brother Llenneac):

https://twitter.com/ActualAurochs/status/1634730356854095874

Chretian mentions another court in “Yvain, the Knight of the Lion”. “Arthur, the good King of Britain... ...held a rich and royal court upon that precious feast-day... ...The court was at Carduel”. Most scholars identify this with Carlisle, the seat of Rheged and Owain ap Urien.

Chretian has correctly identified the three main seats of the Coeling even correctly associating them with the right persons. Arthrwys at Caer Leon i.e. modern York, Llenneac at Camulodunum i.e. modern Leodis and Owain at Carduel i.e. modern Carlisle.

Returning to our quest to seek Arthur’s battle sites, after the Battle of Urbes Legionis Arthur was now High King of the Coeling and intent on putting down this existential threat that was able to strike at the heart of his territory. The main threat in Arthur’s mind was the “Saxons” lead by Ossa and their British masters in Gododdin. “The tenth battle was waged on the banks of a river which is called Tribruit.” This battle is significant as it is the only one (except Badon) corroborated by another source. The pre-Galfridian poem “Pa Gur” depicts Arthur and his warriors engaged in a series of battles including at “Tryfruid” which is another form of “Tribruit”. The poem goes on “In Mynyd Eiddyn, He contended with Cynvyn” which leads us to our next battle listed in the HB.

“The eleventh battle was fought on the mountain which is called Agned.” John of Fordun in the 14th century “Chronica Gentis Scotorum” and William Camden in the 17th century both write that “Agned” was an alternative name used for “Mynyd Eiddyn” (Edinburgh). The link in “Pa Gur” between a battle at “Tryfruid” occurring before a battle at “Mynyd Eiddyn” seems to confirm the Agned of Nennius is “Mynyd Eiddyn”. Arthur’s opponents at Edinburgh are called “Cynvyn” meaning “Dog Heads”.

The meaning of this insult hasn't been entirely deciphered but it is clearly some kind of northern cultural motif now lost to us as this Pictish carving of a dog headed warrior suggests. The tenth, eleventh and twelth battles of Arthur were a retaliation against Gododdin-Bernicia for the strike on York. “Mynyd Eiddyn” was the main seat of Gododdin hence why it was a target. It is therefore likely “Tryfruid” exists somewhere between Hadrian’s Wall and Edinburgh.

“Pa Gur” states the battle at “Tryfruid” was against “Gwrgi Garwlwyd” which translates as “Rough Grey Man Hound”. This is probably the commander of the “Dog Heads” of Edinburgh attempting to intercept Arthur “on the borders of Eidyn” before he reached their heartland. A “Tryfruid” is also mentioned in Myrddin’s poetry. As we know Myrddin wandered in Celidon, which we know was the Tweed Valley, then perhaps “Tryfruid” is to be found here too. A suitable location for a battle between Arthur and Gododdin.

There is no river named “Tryfruid” but there is a river in upper Tweeddale called the “Fruid” water. The first element can be accounted for as perhaps “Tref” meaning settlement (Trefruid = Settlement of Fruid). The Ordnance Survey map confirms the presence of early settlement.

The presence of multiple ancient “Enclosed Cremation Cemeteries” where the Fruid joins the Tweed are appropriate monuments for a possible battle site but unfortunately these seem to date to the Bronze Age.

We can therefore conclude Arthur marched his host up the western Roman road where he joined the Tweed Valley sweeping aside Gwrgi Garwlwyd at the settlement of Fruid before continuing on to Edinburgh to exact his revenge upon the architects of his uncles death.

The ruler of Gododdin, Cadleu ap Cadell, was probably slain by Arthur leading to the ascension of his son Letan who went on become the King Lot of Arthurian romance. It was the sons of Letan (and Caw) that lead the force against Arthur in his final battle of Camlann. After dealing with Gododdin Arthur turned his sights upon their “Saxon” allies in Bernicia who conducted the attack on York. As recalled in the “Bonedd y Sant”, “Ossa Great Knife, King of England, the warlike man who contended with Arthur at the battle of Badon.”

Nennius says “The twelfth battle was on Mount Badon in which there fell in one day 960 men from one charge by Arthur; and no one struck them down except Arthur himself, and in all the wars he emerged as victor.” Gildas only comments briefly with “the siege of the Badonic hill”. If Nennius is correct that the “Saxons” “arrived with forty ships” in Bernicia then a rough estimate of 25 warriors per ship would give a total of 1000. This number correlates well with the 960 killed at Badon which sounds like it was a merciless slaughter if true. The use of the word “siege” by Gildas has prompted scholars to seek a hill fort called Mynydd Badon. An Irish source recounting the life of Saint Uinnian suggests Ninian was present at the battle:

Summarising this information we are looking for a hill fort large enough to house approximately one thousand of Ossa’s “Saxons”. It is called something like “Badon” and is located in or around the region of Gododdin settled by Ossa then known as Bryneich (Bernicia). There is a location that fits this description. It also has a folkloric connection with Arthur and was even settled as a buffer state by the descendants of the historical Arthrwys. Sitting within Celidon in the lower Tweed Valley at Melrose is the three Eildon Hills. It was called “Trimontium” or “Three Mountains” by the Romans. “Eildon” itself may be from the English “æled” + “dun” meaning “Fire Hill”, a suitable name for the site of a siege.

On the most northern hill sits what has been called the largest hill fort in Scotland. This is more than large enough to house one thousand “Saxon” warriors. At the foot of the Eildon Hills is a cluster of relevant place names which may preserve the Brythonic name of the area.

Etched with ancient earthworks Bowden Moor and Bowden Common sit above Bowden Village and Bowden Burn. On first glance “Bowden” seems distant from the historical “Badon”. However the earliest recorded form of the name in a charter of 1124 is “Bothen”.

The occurrence of “Ringan’s Dene” on Bowden Moor is significant too as “Ringan” is an alternative pet name given to Uinnian, as we have previously mentioned, he may have been present as an arbitrator at Mount Badon. “Bothen” is comprised of two Brythonic place name elements. As Alan James says, the Brythonic “Bod-” meaning “dwelling” is rendered “Both-” by English and Gaelic speakers. Possibly used interchangeably with “Bad-” amongst Brythonic speakers. The second element “-en” simply denotes “place of”. Thus the place name “Bowden” is from “Bothen” and “Boden” (and perhaps “Badon”) meaning “Place of Dwelling”.

Alan James gives examples of similar place names in Southern Scotland such as “Badentree Hill” and “Badenhay” also in Tweeddale as well as “Baddinasgill”, “Boden” and “Bothan” elsewhere. In some Welsh sources such as the “The Dream of Rhonabwy” Badon is called “Caer Faddon”. In the earliest maps of the “Bothen” area we can see a place named “Fadonsyd” (Fadon Side). This “Fadon” place name element beside “Bothen Moor” is perhaps another relevant toponym.

Sir Walter Scott relates “a fine legend of superstition”. The tale retells the story of a horse dealer named Canonbie Dick “One moonlight night, as he rode over Bowden Moor, on the west side of the Eildon Hills” he was approached by a mysterious figure. “He met a man of venerable appearance and singularly antique dress, who, to his great surprise, asked the price of his horses”. The identity of the mysterious man is eventually revealed.

“Thomas.. ..the Rhymer... ...to whom some of the adventures which the British bards assigned to Merlin Caledonius, or the Wild, have been transferred by tradition, was, as is well known, a magician, as well as a poet and prophet. He is alleged still to live in the land of Faery”

Canonbie was invited by Thomas the Rhymer inside a magical passageway that lead under the Eildon Hills. Inside the mountain he saw a large group of sleeping knights with Arthur their leader. Canonbie was then instructed to choose either the sword or the horn that lay before him. If he chose correctly he would be anointed “King of all Britain”. Not wanting to appear too aggressive Canonbie meekly chose the horn. A voice boomed "Woe to the coward, that ever he was born, Who did not draw the sword before he blew the horn!" Canonbie was ejected back onto Bowden Moor by a swift gust of wind where he died shortly after telling his story to a local shepherd. Choosing the sword is undoubtedly a good piece of wisdom to keep in mind next time you are taken to Faeryland by a wizard. While this kind of folklore about Arthur sleeping under the mountain is far from unique to Eildon it indicates Arthur had a real historic connection to the area. A more concrete historical link may be found in the Welsh genealogies.

A “Cadrod of Calchfynydd” is recorded as a descendent of Arthrwys. Skene and others have made the strong case that “Calchfynydd” can be identified as a 6th century kingdom in the Kelso-Eildon area. Kelso was recorded as “Calchou” in a charter of 1128. As an interesting side note King Charles III is a direct descendant of Arthrwys ap Mar via Cadrod Calchfynydd:

https://twitter.com/p5ych0p0mp/status/1654122255583178760

has previously made the case that Calchfynydd was a buffer state set up by Arthur manned by his descendants to protect the Coeling heartlands from Gododdin and Bernicia. This buffer state may have been established in the wake of the Battle of Badon. After Badon for roughly 40 years there was a period of relative peace. This is sometimes known as “Pax Arthuriana”. It is unlikely there was no conflict with the other northern powers, for example with Tristan ap Tallwch.

https://twitter.com/p5ych0p0mp/status/1737494344477626636

It can certainly be said that according to Nennius and other sources that the “Saxons” didn’t recover their strength until Ida of Bernicia some two generations later. After a long reign Arthur finally met his end at the Battle of Camlann. I will not rehash the circumstances surrounding Arthur’s death which you can read here:

https://twitter.com/ActualAurochs/status/1738675587240120797

Most scholars agree that the Battle of Camlann was a real event that probably occurred at Camboglanna on Hadrian’s Wall. Arthur died where he first rose to prominence “Around the old renowned boundary” at the hands of a familiar enemy, the Britons of Goddodin and Strathclyde. According to one visceral account of Arthur’s death

A 6th century inscribed stone has been found at Camboglanna that potentially commemorates the battle. One translation is “SVB DEO AVDEO” meaning “under God I dare”.

Arthur requested to be taken to the “delightful Isle of Avallon” where he died of his wounds. A short distance to the west of Camboglanna is another Hadrian’s Wall fort called “Aballava” which sits in a tidal marsh on the Solway Firth coastline.

In the 7th century Ravenna Cosmograhy “Aballava” is recorded as “Avalana”. This is probably the inspiration for the “Isle of Avalon”.

In summary:

P5ych0p0mp:

In previous instalments of this series I have considered numerous snippets of place name evidence with varying levels of certainty. Some of these locations originate from folkloric antiquarian projection onto the landscape and others are concrete places that hosted real historical events. This article will add further place names of both kinds filling in some blanks in the map of Rheged. This exercise will in turn perhaps fill in some blanks of real historical events. These are the place names associated with events during the British Heroic Age found within sources such as the works of Taliesin. The following section will briefly summarize some of these previously considered names and some new names. (Disclaimer: my speculations on place names is very amateur-ish).

The name most often associated with the territory ruled by Urien is “Rheged”. This name is only attested in Welsh poetry where it is spelled as “Reget” or “Reged”. Of all the territories associated with Urien it is by far the most frequent and prominently used even as an epithet “Urien Rheged”. There is much debate about the exact meaning of “Rheged”, some believe it means something like “Land of Generosity” (Rheg + ed). Others, including myself, do not favour this derivation as most other territorial names found in Taliesin are geographical descriptions such as another of Urien’s titles “Lord of Erechwydd” i.e. “Area of Fresh Water” referring to the Lake District. It is for this reason that I favour the alternative proposed by Alan James which is Rag + ged meaning “Before the Wood” (The Wood in question being the vast Celyddon Forest). This would match another critical place name linked with Rheged found within Taliesin, “Argoed” or Ar + ged meaning “Opposite the Wood” that I will consider later.

The only strong evidence we actually have regarding the exact location of Rheged is a reference in the poetry of Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd who states that “Caer Lliwelydd” modern day Carlisle lies within the territory of Rheged. The phrase “tra merin reget” meaning “beyond the firth of Rheged” occurs in Taliesin which tells us that the territory probably straddled the modern day Solway Firth. “Caer Lliwelydd” is also referenced in Taliesin as a target of Cunedda of Gododdin. This confirms it was probably a populated centre of the Coeling dynasty and in all probability the capital of Rheged.

Rheged is assumed to be the name of Urien’s greater Kingdom because smaller administrative units such as “Argoed”, “Arfynnd”, “Land of Mabon” are implied by Taliesin to be contained within it. For this reason most of the other territories that Urien is stated to rule are also taken as being within the bounds of Rheged. This includes the core territories of “Llwyfenydd” (Lyvennet Valley) and Erechwydd (Area of Fresh Water, Lake District). This largely corresponds to the older Civitas Carvetiorum (roughly modern day Cumbria) stretching down from Hadrian’s Wall to at least the Middleton milestone. It is also implied within Taliesin that Urien ruled Catraeth (Catterick) and Aeron (Ayr) although these do not lie within Rheged itself and probably represent neighbouring territories Urien holds lordship over.

Many seekers have scoured old land surveys searching for further place name evidence for the Kingdom of Rheged. The best match so far is “Reget Gill” in Furness, Cumbria found by Dan Elsworth. This spelling is an exact match of the original “Reget” found throughout Taliesin. This shows that the boundaries of Rheged extended well beyond the Solway region. Another commonly cited place name is “Reced-ham” recorded in the Domesday Book for modern day Rochdale which may indicate the Southern-most extent of Rheged at its peak under Urien, although it does seem anomalously far South. A third often cited place name is “Dunragit” meaning “Fort of Rheged” in Galloway. There is reason to believe Dunragit was an outpost of Rheged within a separate kingdom called Godeu which I will return to later. Others believe that Dunragit actually derives from “Dun Gwaragedd” meaning the “Fort of Women”. Another place name found on the modern North East border of Cumbria is recorded as “Rasw-raget” in 1183. It is commonly thought this contains the same place name element meaning Ros + Gwaragedd or “High ground of women”. However I think that Ros + Raget meaning “High ground of Rheged” is more likely with the erroneous “w” a simple scribal error.

Some other less secure and highly speculative place names may contain references to Rheged. In 1592 a “Riggat Grange” is recorded in Borrowdale, Cumbria possibly meaning “Rheged Villa”. This is a valley already confirmed as a high status 6th century hunting estate by the poem “Pais Dinogat”. There is also a “Regen-dale” recorded in 1522 near Shap, Cumbria.

One of the most common toponyms found in Cumbria is “Rigg”. It is an Old English element meaning “Ridge”. Somewhat curiously a simple search of places starting with “Rigg” on the Survey of English Place-Names (https://epns.nottingham.ac.uk/) shows clearly that Cumbria has by far the greatest density anywhere in England. This is highly counter-intuitive as you would expect the historically “least English” North West to have the lowest density. One explanation could be the heavy Norse influence in Cumbria. The Norse and Old English naming convention would be to place the “-rigg” element at the end of the placename like "Haverigg” meaning"the hill where oats are grown" whereas the Brittonic naming convention would be to place the “Rag-” element at the start of the place name such as “Rag-ged” (Rheged). The earliest form of Old English “Rigg” is “Ryg” and according to Alan James “Rag-” should have evolved into “Rhyg-”. It is easy to see how the Brittonic “Rhyg” could be mistaken and adopted as “Ryg” by Anglian and Norse settlers. One example of this could be the placename “Drumlanryg” recorded in 1384. The first two elements are Brittonic: Drum (Ridge) + lanerc (Clearing). The third element “ryg” could be the Germanic “ridge” (ryg) or the Brittonic “before” (rhyg). The full Brittonic “Ridge before the clearing” would seem more coherent to me. Although if we conservatively assume all place names ending in “rigg” are Germanic this still leaves the unorthodox place names that start with “Rigg-” in line with the Brittonic naming convention. If we search for such place names starting with “Rigg” we find that almost exclusively in Britain they are found in the region that was formerly Rheged. They are most heavily clustered around the Solway Firth and the so called “Brampton Enclave” (An area known for its density of Brittonic place names). This may be a case of confirmation bias but it is certainly curious and perhaps warrants investigation by a more knowledgeable linguist. The following are just some examples found: Rigg (at Gretna), Rigg (at Gilsland), Rigg (at Hesketnewmarket), Rigg (at Knott), Rigghead (at Rigg, Gretna), Rigghead (at Kirklinton), Righead (at Bewcastle), Rigghead (at Hethersgill), Rigghead (at Coniston), Rigghead (at Borrowdale), Rigghead (at Threlkeld), Rigghead (at Dumfries), Rygehead (at Shap) and Rigghead (at Settle). Again it is easy to see how Norse settlers could reinterpret “Rhyg-ed” (Rheged) as “Ryg-head”. The phrase “Ryg-(h)ead” spoken with a certain accent (omitting the “h”) sounds almost indistinguishable from Rhyg-ed. It should be noted that it is far more likely that all the “Rigg” place names derive purely from original Norse but it is also certainly curious that the common Cumbrian “Rigghead” doesn’t seem to occur anywhere else in Britain (except South West Scotland) thus I thought it worth mentioning.

In previous articles I mentioned other place names within the borders of Rheged with relevance to the British Heroic Age. Briefly summarised: Avalan or Aballava (Avalon), Camboglanna (Camlann), River Arth (Connecting Avalan and Camlann), Land of Mabon (Lochmaben or Maben on Old Maps & Clochmabenstane), Ford of Maponus (The Sul Wath Ford), Pow Donnet (Stream of Dunod), Cardunneth (Caer Dunod, Fort of Dunod), Castel Owain (Site of Arthurian romances and Urien’s son), Llanforfael (Dacre burial site of Owain), Aber Lleu (Ross Low site of Urien’s death), Celyddon (Caledonian Forest – the vast swathe of forest beyond Hadrian’s Wall that exists to this day), Arfderydd (Arthuret), Carwhinley (Caer Gwenddoleu site of Myrddin’s descent into madness).

I will briefly outline some more locations to this Arthurian Atlas before we proceed to the main thesis of this article. Antiquarian projection explains the origins of such place names as Pow Dunod and Caer Dunod. Dunod the Stout did not rule these areas that comprised the core territory of Rheged, he ruled a territory called “Regio Dunatinga” centred on modern Dentdale probably as another client King under Urien. Although it is possible he briefly held these core areas in the chaos following Urien’s assassination before being driven out by Owain and Pasgen. This means the place names commemorating Dunod are probably a result of later British populations romanticising monuments in the landscape with a prominent name from their folklore. Dunod was the son of Pabo the Pillar of Britain. Pabo was another prominent figure in the British Heroic Age and is commonly thought to be the son of King Arthwys. This is unlikely however as he is probably actually son of Ceneu ap Coel making him an uncle to Arthwys. Pabo also ruled Regio Dunatinga which makes the following place name in the heart of Rheged equally curious to that of his son. The earliest form of Papcastle near Cockermouth is recorded as Pabecastr in 1260. This is thought to mean the “Castrum of Pabo”. Much like his son this is also likely to be a case of later antiquarian projection.

As covered in previous articles Dunod ap Pabo was an enemy of Urien and his sons. The place names Cardunneth (Caer-Dunod) and Pow Donnet (Pow Dunod) likely commemorate him and his conflict with Rheged. It is curious that in traditional Cumbrian dialect, even still in use today, is the term “Donnet” which is used to describe a person who is worthless or evil. This may be further evidence of a folk memory of Dunod. Roughly a mile South of Caer-Dunod at a place called “DunWalloght Castle” is another possible case of antiquarian projection. I believe this could be another romantic memory of a prominent figure from the British Heroic Age namely Gwallog ap Lleenog. “Dun-Walloght” could translate as “Fort of Gwallog”. The close proximity of the “Fort of Gwallog” to the “Fort of Dunod” could further strengthen the theory that a population of Britons in this locality named monuments in memory of folkloric figures of the British Heroic Age.

Returning to the ruling dynasty of Rheged itself we can identify a string of place names potentially commemorating four generations. Previously mentioned in another article we have Castell Owain in the heart of Rheged which was used as the setting for multiple late Arthurian romances. About one mile North of Castell Owain is the source of a stream called “Pow Maughan”. According to Alan James “Maughan” is an alternate spelling of the Brittonic “Meirchion”. Owain’s Great-Grandfather was Meirchion Gul or Meirchion the Lean. The name “Meirchion” was adopted as a Brittonic name after the rule of Emperor Marcianus in 457. Meirchion the Lean was probably born around 460 which shows that even in the late 5th century the Britons of Rheged were highly Romanized. I would assert that “Pow Maughan” commemorates Meirchion the Lean and should be translated as “Stream of Meirchion the Lean” for the purposes of our romantic atlas.

Moving further north into the murky Forest of Celyddon we find a cluster of hill forts and settlements the largest of which is Castel Oer. I have been unable to source any scholarly etymology for “Oer” so in the absence of expertise I will insert my own speculation that this hill fort is named after the son of Meirchion Gul namely Cynfarch Oer. The cognomen “Oer” is normally translated as meaning cold or dismal. This place name identification shouldn’t be taken as authoritative in any way as it is based purely on my amateur speculation.

This leaves us with a gaping absence of any place names for the famous son of Cynfarch the Dismal. As the most praised hero in poetry Urien should have the most place names much like Arthur. In my investigations I have only been able to dig up a single example. Further north and even deeper into the Forest of Celyddon next to the Ettrick Water Alan James has linked the cluster of “Deloraine” place names such as Deloraine Burn, Wester Deloraine and Easter Deloraine to Urien. He identifies “Deloraine” as meaning Del + Urien of “Valley of Urien”. This “Valley of Urien” is at roughly the same latitude as Aeron (Ayr), which may indicate this was the North Eastern boundary of Urien’s territory before the Siege of Lindesfarne and his assassination. There is another “Deloraine” found in Cliburn, Cumbria however this is the name of a private dwelling and could be a modern invention after a literary character. I have been unable to access the old enclosure map of the area to confirm if an older field name exists. There is also the similar “Dollerline” applied to an early medieval settlement at Bewcastle (Next to one of the previously mentioned “Rigghead” toponyms). “Dollerline” probably means “Valley of Lyne River” but it could also be a late corruption of Dol + Erien or “Valley of Urien” although this is less likely. “Castel of Owain”, “Valley of Urien”, “Castel of Cyfarch Oer” and “Stream of Meirchion Gul” potentially gives us place names for four generations of the same dynasty.

In my previous articles I analysed the Battle of Argoed Llyfain in which Urien and Owain defended their land from a raid. I now believe this previous analysis to be incorrect. The opening lines of the poem by Taliesin include:

“Flamdwyn hastened in four hosts:

Godeu and Rheged were mustering

to Dyfwy, from Argoed to Arfynyd."

And at the end of the poem it includes the lines:

"And in front of Argoed Llyfain

There were many corpses.

The ravens were crimson because of the warfare of men”

Before we re-analyse the events of the poem first we will attempt to accurately identify all the place names included within the narrative in order to get an accurate idea of the geography. Firstly the mention of “Godeu and Rheged” as areas under the protection of Urien and Owain. We have already considered the extent of Rheged as the name of Urien’s greater core Kingdom. The implication of the phrasing “Godeu and Rheged were mustering” is that they are neighbouring areas both ruled by Urien. This immediately narrows down our search for “Godeu”. Another mystical poem by Taliesin called “Cad Godeu” is usually translated as “Battle of the Trees”. If Rheged does mean “Before the Woods” as previously deduced then a neighbouring region called something like “The Woods” (Godeu) would be a nice fit. This would make Godeu roughly synonymous with the Forest of Celyddon. Many scholars identify “Cad Godeu” with one of Arthurs battles namely “Cad Coed Celyddon” or the “Battle of Celyddon Forest”. The poem Cad Godeu mentions a “Caer Nefenhyr” as a location within the region. Marged Haycock has demonstrated that this name derives from “Novantorix” or “the king of the Novantae tribe”. The Novantae were recorded by Ptolemy as residing in South West Scotland corresponding roughly to modern day Galloway. It is a heavily forested region within the broader Forest of Celyddon and is next to the territory of Rheged and so this seems like a solid identification.

The next location to identify is “Dyfwy” where the forces of Rheged and Godeu mustered. The logical implication here is that “Dyfwy” is somewhere between the two Kingdoms of Urien. Alan James says this is probably the name of a river meaning something like “brightly shining one” but he does not speculate which river this could be. A simple search of river names in south west Scotland returns two potential options. The River Dee in Galloway which is probably too far west to be a midway mustering point between Rheged and Godeu. The second option is much more promising called the Dryfe Water. The Dryfe Water flows into the River Annan at Lochmaben. This area is known as the “Land of Mabon” in the poetry of Taliesin which is significant for reasons we will return to later. The etymology of “Dryfe” is unknown, even the language, therefore I would propose it could derive from “Dyfwy”.

The next location is “Argoed” and “Argoed Llyfain”. Previously I have identified “Argoed Llyfain” with “Llwyfenydd” or the Lyvennet Valley due to the shared “Llyfain” element meaning Elm trees. After further research I now believe this is incorrect and “Argoed Llyfain” is an entirely separate location. As the location of the battle itself it should be somewhere relatively near Godeu and the mustering point of the Dryfe Water thus ruling out the Lyvennet Valley. “Argoed Llyfain” or Ar + ged + Llyfain means “Opposite the Elm Wood”. Another clue comes to us in the poetry of Llywarch Hen who was a cousin of Urien and ruled as a client King within Rheged. Llywarch ruled from Caerlaverock on the Northern shore of the Solway Firth just south of the “Land of Mabon” and “Dyfwy”. Caerlaverock was originally “Caer Llywarch” but was confused in later centuries into “Caer Laverock” meaning “Fort of Larks”. In some of his poetry Llywarch says “the men of Argoed have ever supported me”. This tells us that we are searching somewhere in the vicinity of Caerlaverock for “Argoed”. Scholars including Alan James identify the etymology of the River Lyne which flows into the Solway Firth as deriving from “Llyfain”, some go further and explicitly identify the River Lyne with “Argoed Llyfain”. This seems like a strong identification, the River Lyne flows out of the Forest of Celyddon into to Solway basin. The names Rheged (Before the Wood), Godeu (The Wood), Argoed (Opposite the Wood) all seem to be measured relative to the imposing massif of the heavily forested Southern Uplands of Celyddon beyond Hadrian’s Wall. This tells us something about the effect on the psyche this looming presence had on those residing in Rheged.

The names “Argoed” and “Argoed Llyfain” are actually separated within the works of Taliesin and Llywarch. This would lead me to believe that “Llyfain” was a river running through the larger region of “Argoed”. The Taliesin poem says warriors were mustering “from Argoed to Arfynyd”. Another place name just three miles south of where the River Llyfain flows into the Solway Firth is Cargo just outside Carlisle. I believe that Cargo could be originally derived from “Caer Argoed” eventually contracting to its modern form Cargo. Cargo is positioned just in front of Hadrian’s Wall. This leaves the last remaining location of “Arfynyd” yet to identify. The only known place name in the area that is remotely similar to “Arfynyd” is “Arfderydd”. The famous location of “Arfderydd” is recorded in relatively late sources, it could be that “Arfynyd” is an older and more accurate iteration of the name. It means something like “Before the Mountains” which would be an accurate description of modern day Arthuret which sits just before the hills of the Southern Uplands of Celyddon into which Myrddin fled after the Battle of Arfderydd. Arfderydd is just north of the River Llyfain which would fit the context of the poem. It could be that the area South of the River Llyfain to Hadrian’s Wall was the area known as “Argoed” and the area North of the River Llyfain to Carwhinley or Caer Gwenddoleu at the River Liddel was known as “Arfynyd”. Urien and Owain could easily dispatch cavalry from their seat at Caer Liwelydd and Uxelodunum Northwards mustering warriors in the buffer zones of Argoed and Arfynyd and joining the warriors of Godeu at Dyfwy.

Both myself and Aurochs have previously written about the details of the Battle of Arfderydd but the brief synopsis is Peredur and Gwrgi of Ebrauc and Rhydderch Hael of Strathclyde attacked the stronghold of Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio at Caer Gwenddoleu in Arfderydd. Gwenddoleu was killed along with the bulk of his forces. His bard Myrddin went mad and fled into the Forest of Celyddon becoming the legendary prophet. Myrddin recounts his tale to a sympathetic ear found in fellow Bard of Rheged Taliesin in “The Dialogue of Myrddin and Taliesin”. This battle occurred in 573 which is during the floruit of Urien and his son Owain. Arfderydd was a territory within the boundaries of Rheged and as such Gwenddoleu was a client King under Urien much like neighbouring Llywarch Hen. As Aurochs has previously written about extensively Arfderydd was set up by Arthwys as a buffer zone to protect the heart of Rheged and Coeling territory from the Northern threat posed by Gododdin, Strathclyde, Pictland and others. This is also where Arthwys was killed in the Battle of Camlann in 537 repelling this very northern threat.

Utilising the Roman infrastructure of Hadrian’s Wall Arfderydd was a very well defended zone rich with assets and as such it was an alluring target. This is why there was such a high density of raids and battles in the area from Cunedda targeting Caer Liwelydd, Camlann, Arfderydd and as we have identified Argoed Llyfain. It has long been puzzling to many investigators that there is no mention of the High King Urien or his son Owain playing any part in the Battle of Arfderydd in the heart of their Kingdom. As previously outlined by myself, Aurochs and of course John Koch the Battle of Catraeth in 580 was a hugely significant conflict, read Aurochs excellent recent summary here1. The basic synopsis of the battle is a coalition of forces from Gododdin, Strathclyde (Rhydderch Hael), Ebrauc (Peredur and Gwrgi), Bernicia and others marched on the stronghold of Catterick. They were met and comprehensively beaten by Urien with a coalition of forces from Rheged, Elmet and Deira.

It is inconceivable to me that the same coalition of Peredur, Gwrgi and Rhydderch Hael could march on the heart of Rheged and kill Gwenddoleu without Urien coming to his aid. These invaders were clearly bitter enemies of Rheged. I believe the reason that there is no mention of Urien or Owain at the Battle of Arfderydd is because they were pre-occupied repelling the simultaneous raid of Flamdwyn at the Battle of Argoed Llyfain. The opening lines of the Taliesin poem recounting the Battle of Argoed Llyfain says:

“Flamdwyn hastened in four hosts:

Godeu and Rheged were mustering

to Dyfwy, from Argoed to Arfynyd."

If my assertion is correct that “Arfynyd” is in fact “Arfderydd” this directly indicates simultaneous conflict in both Arfderydd and Argoed Llyfain. As we know Urien and Owain were engaged at Argoed Llyfain this would neatly explain their absence from Arfderydd. “Flamdwyn hastened in four hosts” tells us there were four armies attacking different areas of Rheged. In the Taliesin poem “Death-Song of Owain” “Flamdwyn” meaning Flame-bearer is identified as an Angle (“Lloegyr”) who was subsequently killed by Owain:

“When Owain slew Flamdwyn”

“A wide number of Lloegyr went to sleep”

It is evidenced in the Historia Brittonum that “Flamdwyn” was probably Theodric of Bernicia. We already know from the Battle of Catraeth that Bernicia were allied with Peredur, Gwrgi and Rhydderch Hael against Rheged. This means that an Angle host repelled at Argoed Llyfain joining the further two hosts of Peredur (& Gwrgi) and Rhydderch Hael ravaging Arfderydd shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. As it is stated there were four hosts in the attacking force this leaves one remaining to be identified. There are a number of other smaller participants stated to be present at Arfderydd such as Dunod the Stout but I think the fourth host could be another.

In the triads listed under the “Three Futile Battles” it is stated the cause of the Battle of Arfderydd was because of a “Lark’s Nest”. Many scholars take this as a reference to the previously mentioned “Fort of Larks” or Caerlaverock which was the Caer of Llywarch Hen. As Llywarch states in his poetry “the men of Argoed have ever supported me”, this indicates he was perhaps another target during this large scale raid. In the Death Song of Urien by Llywarch Hen he says:

“Morcant and his men planned

to exile me and burn my lands.

A mouse, scratching at a cliff!”

It is for this reason that I believe the fourth host was lead by Morcant Bulc repelled by Llywarch at Caerlaverock. It is unknown where Morcant’s Kingdom was, some have speculated Bryneich, Strathclyde, Dumfriesshire and others Gododdin. The idea that Morcant was a King of Gododdin is very interesting but beyond the scope of this article. It would certainly not be like Gododdin to miss an opportunity to raid Rheged. It could further explain why Morcant was motivated to have Urien assassinated during his siege of the Bernicians on Lindesfarne. Previously I had assumed that Urien, Morcant, Rhydderch Hael and Gwallawc were initially allies due to my interpretation of the Historia Brittonum but it is increasingly looking like only Gwallawc was actually his ally.

Another poem by Taliesin called “Tidings Have Come to Me from Calchvynyd” contains what could be references to the same events in Argoed Llyfain. The bulk of the poem describes Owain defending Cattle from raiders in the “Land of Mabon”:

“Whoever saw Mabon on his white-flanked steed,

as men mingled, contending for Rheged' s cattle,

unless it were by means of wings that they flew,

only as corpses, would they go from Mabon.

Of encounter, descent, and onset of battle

in the realm of Mabon, the inexorable chopper;

when Owain fought to defend his father's cattle”

As we previously mentioned the mustering point of Owain and his troops from Rheged and Godeu was “Dyfwy” which is right in the centre of the “realm of Mabon” where the Dryfe Water flows into the Annan at Lochmaben. It is very likely therefore that the events of this poem depict a continuation of the same series of skirmishes that include also the Battle of Arfderydd and the Battle of Argoed Llyfain. The poem also tells us a sequence of chronological events that happened next:

“The manifestation of Mabon from the other-realm,

in the battle where Owain fought for the cattle of his country.

A battle in the ford of Alclud, a battle in the Gwen”

This indicates that the forces of Rheged conducted their own retaliatory raid against the stronghold of the Kingdom of Strathclyde at the ford near Alt Clut near Dumbarton Rock. We learn in other poetry of Taliesin that Urien was accompanied by his close ally Gwallawc of Elmet in his campaign in Aeron. In further poetry we learn that Urien fought an Anglian opponent called “Ulph” at the Battle of Alclud Ford. This could indicate that Strathclyde were employing Angle warriors from their Bernician allies as mercenaries to protect them.

The “Battle in the Gwen” seems like a reference to the Battle of Gwen Ystrad or Gwensteri which is the name used by Taliesin for the Battle of Catraeth as demonstrated by John Koch. If my analysis is correct it seems that the Battle of Arfderydd and Battle of Argoed Llyfain are direct precursors to the Battle of Catraeth just seven years later featuring many of the same protagonists. These three battles are all defensive in nature but it should be noted that Urien regularly launched his own raids expanding his territory into that of his enemies. The Battle of Alclud Ford, the cattle raid on Manaw Gododdin, the Battle of Cellawr Brewyn (High Rochester) and his Siege of Lindesfarne can all be seen as examples of Urien’s offensive capabilities. This internecine conflict ultimately proved destructive for all parties involved except the Angles who seem to largely watch from the sidelines as the Britons destroy themselves. If Morcant was a King of Gododdin his assassination of Urien at Lindesfarne could be seen as a direct response to the crushing defeat of Catraeth.

Seemingly only one thing is certain in the saga of the Hen Ogledd as summarized by the accidentally humorous Taliesin:

“May the happy country of Urien be filled with blood.”

Part 3: Some Lesser Known Monuments to Arthur and Owain

The setting of many medieval Arthurian romances was inspired by the real locations of events in the British Heroic Age. These historical events were often projected onto the place names of the landscape of the Hen Ogledd (Old North). In this article I will attempt to decipher a few of these lesser known real world monuments and locations which will in turn shed further light on the historical events themselves. The main focus of this article centres predominantly on locations relating to the deaths of firstly Owain mab Urien and then Arthwys mab Mar.

As outlined in the first part of this series, during the siege of Lindesfarne a conspiracy was unleashed against the Kingdom of Rheged whereupon Urien was assassinated by his former allies. Uriens cousin Llywarch Hen cut off his head to preserve and protect it carrying it back to the “land of Mabon” in Rheged.

The severed head motif is commonly associated with the Romano-British God Maponus or Mabon and many Celtic votive stone head artefacts in the area are thought to depict Maponus. These eerie depictions of the British Gods give us a glimpse into the image of the decapitated Urien himself.

Following Uriens death, his purportedly divinely conceived son Owain, himself an incarnation of Mabon, became ruler of Rheged. We shall be returning to the significance of this relationship to Mabon ap Modron later in this article. In the ensuing chaos after his fathers assassination Owain and his brothers were set upon by Morcant, Bran, Gwallawc and Dunod who each opportunistically raided Rheged. This conflict killed most of the participants and hugely weakened each Kingdom which ultimately lead to the Angles conquering the Old North. It is unclear precisely which of these enemy kings killed Owain but it is most commonly thought to be Morcant. As theorised in the first part of this series, Gwallawc was eventually killed by Owain's brother Rhun and Morcant was probably killed by Rhydderch Hael.

The only evidence we have for which king actually directly attacked Owain in this period comes from the “Death Song of Urien” by Llywarch Hen:

Dunod the Stout was son of Pabo the Pillar of Britain who was Arthwys’ uncle. Their Kingdom was in the Pennines called “Dunoting” and was located around modern day Dent and Craven in the Yorkshire Dales and Lancashire. The end of Llywarch’s poem implies that Owain no longer lives after the period of conflict and Dunod was his only named opponent. It would therefore be logical to think that Dunod was responsible for the death of Owain. The death of Dunod is recorded as 595 in the Annales Cambriae. There is evidence that it was actually Dunod and not Owain that died during his raid of Rheged probably in 595. This would support the case that it was in fact Morcant or some other that killed Owain.

In the heartland of Rheged one area was known as “the lands of Llwyvenydd” which corresponds to the modern River Lyvennet valley. Owain is described as the “Prince of glorious Llwyfenydd” in the poetry of Taliesin. In the Lyvennet valley at the picturesque village of Morland there is a sacred well called “Pow Donnet”. A spring emanates from beneath the tangled roots of a large tree.

Morland also boasts the only extant pre-Norman stone church building in the North West of England. Its exact date of construction is unknown but it is generally thought to have been built by Earl Siward of Northumbria in the early 11th century after he conquered this region of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde-Cumbria. However it is equally possible in my view that the church is significantly older and was actually built by Ecgfrith in the 7th century when he inherited rule of Rheged. Ecgfrith (map Rhienmellt map Rhoath map Rhun map Urien) wanted to consolidate his power and claim in the region as he did in Bewcastle and Ruthwell when erecting stone crosses there. He was a renowned church builder which are some of the oldest post-Roman stone buildings in Britain. The stone masonry of St Laurence in Morland resembles both in size and form the masonry of Ecgfrith’s church in Escomb dating to the late 7th century.

In either case, Siward or Ecgfrith, the construction of the church indicates it was a place of high status for the former British kingdom. It is therefore likely that it was also a target for Dunod during his raid on Rheged in the lands of Llwyfenydd. Phythian-Adams and Dr Molly Miller identify the Cumbric place name “Powdonnet” as meaning “Stream of Dunod” referring to Dunod the Stout. They fail to provide an adequate explanation as to why a sacred monument in the heart of Owain’s territory is named after a rival king of a different land. The French Arthurian romance by Chrétien de Troyes “Yvain Knight of the Lion” and the Welsh Romance “Owain Knight of the Fountain” are two versions of the same story based on an older common source. They tell the legendary story of Owain mab Urien as a knight of the Round Table. In both stories Owain journeys from Arthur’s court in Carlisle to a magical fountain in the forest of Brocliande. The fountain has a source emanating beneath a beautiful tree and it causes thunder storms when a libation from it is poured on a nearby stone. Owain initially travels there in order to exact revenge for an attack on his kinsmen at the same location by a Red Knight. Owain proceeds to kill the Red Knight in single combat at the magical fountain, which wins him the hand in marriage of the Lady of the Fountain.

This mythical account of Owain killing a rival at a sacred fountain could be a memory of Owain killing the invader Dunod at the sacred fountain of “Pow Donnet”. This explains its curious name, which probably commemorates the event. Phythian-Adams also makes the case that the bronze age burial cairn on Cardunneth Pike in the North Pennines means “Caer Dunod” except this is unlikely to have any real historical link to Dunod other than a folkloric connection.

In Chrétien’s narrative Yvain sets off from King Arthur’s court in Carlisle to find the magical fountain located in the otherworldly forest of Brocliande. This tells us Brocliande is located in the vicinity of Carlisle in the mind of Chrétien. The otherworldly forest is a common feature of many other Arthurian Romances. It is a motif inspired by early bardic poetry and mythology such as “Battle of the Trees” by Taliesin. A number of these later romances are alternatively set in the royal hunting forest of Inglewood instead of Brocliande. Inglewood Forest is the area roughly between Carlisle and Penrith which not coincidentally is the heart of the historical Owain’s Kingdom. Some of the other Arthurian romances set in Inglewood Forest include: Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle, The Avowing of Arthur, The Marriage of Sir Gawain, Sir Landevale and The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne amongst others. These romances are generally known as the Northern Gawain Group.

Many events in these stories occur at Tarn Wadling or “Tarn Gwyddelan” which is Cumbric for “Little Irishman Tarn”. Tarn Wadling is overlooked by “Castel Ewaine” which was a hill fort occupied from the Iron Age until the late Medieval period. It was occupied by the historical Owain mab Urien, hence its name, and is thought to be the castle featured in many of these romances. The tarn has since been drained, the castle demolished and ploughed leaving little remaining evidence of these monuments. Inglewood Forest formed part of the core of Rheged with locations directly associated with the historical Owain possibly serving as the inspiration for Chretians Brocliande. Phythian-Adams notes “For this very area, an intermediate zone of forest waste midway between Carlisle and Penrith - contains a spectacular concentration of mythic British associations” an area which he also notes corresponds to a cluster of Cumbric “Barroc” toponyms. The traditional etymology of Brocliande is the Breton Brech (Hill) + liande (Land) which would translate to Barroc + Llan in Cumbric, another alternative is Broch (badger – a woodland creature) + Llan like at the Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall named Brocolitia. It is not inconceivable that the area was previously named something like Breichllan or Brochllan. The area was renamed Inglewood in later centuries when it was settled by Angles which was apparently unusual enough to be noteworthy in the region. This is perhaps another detail that was accurately preserved by Chretian. Even the final stage of Gawain's journey in “Gawain and the Green Knight” is suggested by Sir F. Madden to be Inglewood. Sir Gawain “rode into a deep forest that was wonderfully wild” and after encountering the Green Knight rode with him to his “castle of Hutton” which is thought to be Hutton-in-the-Forest in Inglewood.

The Green Knight as a wild man archetype is a recurring theme in the folklore of Inglewood. In 1420 Andrew Wyntoun wrote the earliest mention of Robin Hood and claimed a link to Inglewood:

Chretian wrote that Owain was driven mad and lived as a wild man after the Lady of the Fountain loses faith in him. This is a memory also preserved in the triads as Penarwen wife of Owain was remembered as one of the "Three Faithless Wives of Britain". This phase as a mad wildman is also reminiscent of the prophet Myrddin.

William Camden reported in his seventeenth century Britannia that “Ewaine Caesarius” was a knight of “great strength and stature” who used to hunt boars in Inglewood Forest. There is a folkloric tradition in which a giant named Owain Caesarius is buried in a grave in St Andrews Church, Penrith. There is some confusion about the identity of this Owain but it is actually most likely to be a 10th century King of the Cumbrians who was killed at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. Over the centuries these two Owains have become conflated with one another forming a composite Owain.

The real grave of Owain mab Urien is tangentially connected to his 10th century namesake. In 927 William of Malmesbury recorded that a meeting of Kings occurred at St Andrews Church in Dacre a short distance from Penrith. Owain Caesarius King of Cumbrians hosted Athelstan King of England, Constantine II King of Scotland and Hywel Dda King of Wales at this location of his choosing. The following section will outline my speculative theory about why he chose this place as a royal sanctuary.

Dacre marks the spot of the most intriguing surviving monument to Owain mab Urien. Dacre comes from the Cumbric word “dagr” which means “tear drop” or “trickling one”, which is an apt name for a royal grave site. Bede tells us that it was already a well established monastery in his time relating miracles that occurred here. It is one of only two ecclesiastical sites mentioned by Bede in the land of Rheged, the other being Carlisle. An archaeological investigation of the site has confirmed it was an early medieval cemetery with over 300 graves found dating from the 7th century and probably earlier. They also found the remains of multiple timber buildings and an intricate drainage system built with salvaged Roman stone. Phythian-Adams concludes that Dacre was the site of one of only two British monastic sites in the Kingdom of Rheged, with the other located at Carlisle. The best information we have about the location of Owain’s grave comes from the “Stanzas of the Graves”:

Llanforfael means “The Church of the Great Prince”. There are two possible churches this could be: Carlisle or Dacre. As it is stated that the grave is “In a secluded part of the world” we can rule out the Romano-British city of Carlisle thus “The Church of the Great Prince” must be Dacre. However a second and better translation of the same entry gives us a slightly different rendering:

Compellingly we find that each of the four corners of the Dacre graveyard are still marked by a mysterious monument forming something of a “four square tomb”.

The monuments are known as the “Dacre Bears”, each of which is an extremely weathered large stone sculpture depicting different forms of a menacing looking creature. Upon closer inspection of two of the sculptures there is a visible long feline tail and mane, which has lead most modern antiquarians to accept them as actually depicting Lions and not Bears.

They have puzzled many over the years but they are commonly accepted to tell a humorous story in four stages: the lion is at first asleep with its head resting on a post; the second lion has a smaller creature attacking it by jumping on its back; the third has the irritated lion swiping at the small creature and the fourth has the lion with a smug face as if he has easily eaten the small creature. I will demonstrate how this story directly relates to Owain mab Urien shortly. The dating of the monument is uncertain but is generally thought to be early medieval. The church itself says “a recently expressed archaeological opinion is that they are pre-Saxon and may originally have marked the boundaries of some pagan sacred site” which would neatly place it in the time of Owain. Each of the Lions appears to have a libation recess cut into to top of its head like some of the Maponus stone heads featured earlier. A brief survey of similar monuments can reinforce the idea that this one is Romano-British or immediately post-Roman British.

There are multiple other instances of similar Lion sculpture monuments nearby which all date to the Romano-British period. The Corpus of Sculpture of the Roman World lists similar examples in Corbridge, Catterick, Carlisle, Cowbridge, Cramond and Kirby Thore. As you can see in the images below the similarities between these monuments are striking. Furthermore their purpose is identical, the Corpus summarises them as “an apotropaic function for guarding a tomb or a funerary enclosure” “with perhaps one at each of the four corners”. This is exactly what we find at Dacre, therefore the Dacre Lions can be confidently dated to the Romano-British period or immediately afterwards which seems to have been the rationale of the archaeologist consulted by the church.

To summarise the theme of the Dacre Lions monument, it depicts a sleeping lion becoming irritated by a small animal which it then kills. This motif is directly referred to in the early bardic poetry of Taliesin in relation to Owain mab Urien at the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain even linking it directly to his grave monument. In the “Death Song of Owain” Taliesin says:

And in “The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain” Taliesin says:

In the first poem Taliesin tells us that Owain killed his enemy Fflamddwyn (Flamebearer) with such ease that “it was no more (to him) than falling asleep” which is raised in remembrance after mentioning his grave “under the heavy green sod”. Taliesin also tells us in the dedicated battle poem that Owain was an “irritated lion” relative to his puny enemy “Flamebearer”. So in summary Owain was like an irritated lion killing a small animal with such ease as to be comparable to falling asleep. This is obviously mirrored in the Dacre Lions monument, which means a slight reinterpretation of the monument can be made. The first instalment should be seen as the lion with the small attacking animal on its back, the second as the lion swiping it off, the third easily killing it and lastly the lion falling asleep. In another poem known as "Dinogad's Smock" possibly composed by Aneurin we find the line “as a lion kills an animal”. The poem is set in the Derwennydd River area close by to Dacre about a huntsman catching prey, which further shows that the comparison to fierce lions was a common metaphor at the time of Owain in the same location. Taliesin also gives us more lion metaphors in his poetry such as “The lion will be most implacable”.

In “Yvain, the Knight of the Lion” Chretian tells a similar story linking Owain with lions:

Yvain proceeded through a deep wood, until he heard among the trees a very loud and dismal cry, and he turned in the direction whence it seemed to come. And when he had arrived upon the spot he saw in a cleared space a lion, and a serpent which held him by the tail, burning his hind-quarters with flames of fire.

Yvain slew the flame bearing serpent, which seems to be a parallel to Owain killing Fflamddwyn (Flamebearer). This won him the loyalty and companionship of the pure white otherworldly lion. In the second part of this series I discussed the descent of the royal House of Aberffraw of Gwynedd from the Kings of Rheged. In the “Death Song of Owain Gwynedd” by Cynddelw, Owain mab Urien is mentioned in relation to his killing of Fflamddwyn at the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain. It was Owain Gwynedd’s Son and Grandson Llywelyn the Great who first used the four guardant lions on their royal house arms which was also used by Owain Glyndwr and is still in use as the Royal Badge of Wales today. The House of Aberffraw clearly had knowledge of their roots in Rheged as it was Hywel mab Owain Gwynedd who gives us its accurate location in his poem recounting his journey there. It seems they also knew the link between Owain mab Urien, Lions and the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain and adopted it as their crest.

There is a deeper esoteric link between Owain and Lions as outlined by Sir John Rhys in his book Celtic Heathendom. The Welsh word for lion is “Llew” which in most old Welsh manuscripts was used almost interchangeably with “Lleu”. Lleu was the chief God of the British pantheon equivalent to the Irish “Lugh” or “Lugus” in Gaul. The etymology of “Lleu” is much debated but one common derivation is the root Indo-European word “leuk” meaning “to shine”. It is thought this is also the root of the Irish word “Lug” which means Lynx, because it is a creature with shining eyes. It is very easy therefore to see how the Britons under the influence of Roman culture would come to associate the larger feline Lions with their God Lleu or Llew.

There is a very interesting poem by Taliesin called “Tidings Have Come to Me from Calchvynyd” which tells the story of Owain defending Rheged from a cattle raid. John Koch translates the opening lines as such:

Other translations of the poem vary and some such as Skene’s change “Lleu” to Lion. This illustrates the difficulty in untethering the God and the creature from each other. Further in the poem Koch gives us the lines:

This is clearly equating Owain as an incarnation of another deity called Mabon. Mabon is repeatedly invoked throughout the poem and Rheged itself is referred to as the “land of Mabon”. The poems invocation of Lleu and Mabon seem to equate the two gods together which is the conclusion of historians such as Nikolai Tolstoy. A votive tablet hundreds of years older than the poetry of Taliesin found in sacred well in Gaul called the Chamalieres tablet also equates the Gods Maponus and Lugus together. As well as indicating continuity of tradition this tells us that Mabon is probably an epithet for Lleu. We can conclude from this that Owain incarnating Lleu-Mabon is symbolised as a Lion in his grave monument.

Tolstoy notes that Christ is also equated with Mabon in the poem called “The Rod of Moses” by Taliesin. The Lion headed God of the gnostic demiurge and the Mithraic Arimanius could be easily linked in here but I won’t dwell on that in this article. In Celtic myth Mabon was son of a Goddess called Modron or Matrona. They are archetypes of “divine son” and “divine mother” respectively. This is the same root as terms like “matron” or “maternal”. It is also why “mab” is used to denote “son” e.g. Owain mab Urien and why “Mabinogi” means tales of divine male youth which was applied to both the Bible and Celtic mythology.

The Triads tell us that Modron daughter of Afallach (King of the Otherworld) was married to Urien and was mother to Owain, this again equates Owain as the divine son Mabon. According to a legend recorded in Peniarth 147 Urien came across Modron at a ford where they conceived Owain. John Koch believes this was a sovereignty rite like that recorded in Irish sources relating to the sovereignty Goddess Medb. The sovereignty goddess offered a ritual libation to the King symbolising marrying the deified land, in this case the “land of Mabon” mentioned in Taliesin. Modron became the Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend who was also said to be married to Urien.

The “land of Mabon” can be confirmed easily by simply surveying the density of Roman inscriptions dedicated to Mabon and Modron. Dedications to these deities both cluster around the western end of Hadrian’s Wall in the land of Rheged. Mabon was a cognate of Apollo according to the interpretatio romana. There were many altars dedicated to Apollo-Maponus some of which depicted the deity with a harp. Lugh (Mabon) was also known as a renowned harpist entertaining the court of Tuatha Dé Danann with these skills.

In the south west of Scotland a toponym that preserves the “land of Mabon” memory is Lochmaben, which was within the Kingdom of Rheged. There is a traditional folk ballad recorded in the Child Ballads (192) called “The Lochmaben Harper”. This interesting cultural artefact seems to preserve a local tradition which was at one time ascribed to the harper deity Mabon. The Lochmaben harper travels to the Kings court in Carlisle. The etymology of the city is itself a reference to the same deity “Fort of Lleu” or “Luguvalium” as the Romans called it. The harper enchants the court of the King with his beautiful songs lulling his audience to sleep. Seizing the opportunity the harper steals the kings horse by tying it to his own and sending them home together. When the king wakes he gifts the harper financial compensation for the loss of his horse from the Kings stables. This tale is also reminiscent of Taliesin who described himself as an enchanting harper “I am a bard, and I am a harper, I am a piper, and I am a crowder. Of seven score musicians the very great enchanter”. He also travelled between courts, although based mainly in Carlisle, obtaining gifts. Taliesin notes that Owain “used to give horses to minstrels”.

Nikolai Tolstoy outlines an account in the “Life of St Samson” about a journey made by the Saints parents in the late 5th century to a temple in the Old North. Samson’s mother couldn’t conceive a child and so the druids of the temple told her to sleep in the sacred enclosure where she had a prophetic dream about her future son. This shrine is identified by Tolstoy as the Clochmabenstane in the Solway Firth near Gretna which was recorded as the “Locus Maponi” cult centre in the Ravenna Cosmography. Apollo-Mabon as the God of healing and prophecy and Modron as the Goddess of Motherhood makes this identification seem extremely plausible. Tolstoy believes the famous Myrddin was a priest of this cult, which we shall briefly return to later in the article. The Clochmabenstane is a neolithic standing stone that seems to have been adopted for use by the local cult.

The etymology for the name Solway Firth comes from the Norse word “Sul”, meaning pillar in reference to the Clochmabenstane, and the Norse word “wath” meaning ford. The Sulwath is still the name used for the main ford used to cross the Solway Firth at low tide to this day. If we were to reconstruct the original British equivalent of “Sulwath” we get something like “Ford of the Clochmabenstane” and interestingly enough in the Ravenna Cosmography there is recorded a “Ford of Maponus” which I believe to be the original name used. The Sulwath ford crosses from the Clochmabenstane to Burgh-by-Sands on the southern shoreline. Burgh-by-Sands was originally the third most westerly fort on Hadrian’s Wall called “Aballava”, which was built specifically to guard this popular crossing point. In the Ravenna Cosmography it is recorded as “Avalana”.

Avalon is first briefly mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae where “Arthur himself was mortally wounded; and being carried thence to the isle of Avallon to be cured of his wounds” after the battle of “Cambula” against “Modred”. Geoffrey also says Arthur’s sword “Caliburn” was made in Avalon. Geoffrey gives further details in the “Vita Merlini” in a conversation between Merlin and Taliesin about mysterious islands of the world such as Thule. Taliesin goes on to describe Avalon as a bountiful paradise ruled by nine magical sisters with Morgen as their chief. Taliesin says he took Arthur here after the battle of “Camlan” by ship where Morgen received him. Morgen cured Arthur’s wounds on the condition that he stay with her in Avalon. It is from these details that most post-Galfridian accounts of Arthurs end are derived.

The names Avalon, Avalana, Aballava and Afallach derives from the Brythonic “aball” meaning apples. This Isle of Apples is reminiscent of other similar mythical places such as the Hesperides, where the Nymphs guarded divine Golden Apples or the Irish Emain Ablach where the God Lugh spent his youth. In the Welsh manuscripts of Geoffrey “Avalon” is rendered “Afallach”. Afallach was a God, father of Modron and called the “King of Annwn”. Annwn was an otherworld island paradise also said to be ruled by Gwyn ap Nudd (probably another name for Afallach) which can also be identified with Avalon. These incorporeal places are clearly based on religious myth, however this does not exclude the possibility that the historical Arthur was taken to a real place called Avalon after the Battle of Camlann. It may have even been Arthur’s burial in a place called “Avalon” that initiated the words association with the older “Annwn” due to Arthur’s demi-God-like status.

The Battle of Camlann is generally agreed to have been a real historical event that occurred in 537 according to the Annales Cambriae. It occurred following the volcanic winter of 536 as Procopius records “during this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness... and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse”. I will not rehash the context surrounding Camlann, read Aurochs excellent article for more detail. As Aurochs concludes the battle was most likely a desperate cattle raid on Rheged fought at the Roman Fort of Camboglanna on Hadrians Wall. Aurochs suggests that Medraut ap Letan of Gododdin and possibly the men of Strathclyde joined in a raid of the Coeling Rheged dynasty. Arthwys came to Rheged in support of his kin. This was a long running feud between the two factions recorded in the Yr Gododdin:

The identity of Medraut has often been tricky as Letan was equated with Llew brother of Urien by Geoffrey of Monmouth which confused things chronologically. Letan’s actual genealogy is recorded in Harleian MS 3859. Arthwys was possibly slain by a warrior fighting for Gododdin called Cydywal ap Sywno according to the Yr Gododdin. I will outline some further evidence that perhaps consolidates Aurochs narrative starting with some simple toponyms to support identification of Camlann as Camboglanna.

The main court of Rheged was the Romano-British city of Luguvalium (Carlisle). Adjoining the city was the Fort on Hadrian's Wall called Uxelodunum that housed the largest Roman cavalry unit in Brittania. Known as the “Ala Petriana” it was under the direction of a “praefectus” who was himself commanded by the “Dux Britanniarum” (Military Leader of Britain). The Dux Britanniarum was responsible mainly for defence of the northern frontier around Hadrian’s Wall and was based in Ebrauc (York). This seems to perfectly mirror the relationship between Arthwys as Dux Britanniarum in Ebrauc and his cousin Meirchion Gul as praefectus in Luguvalium. Furthermore Uxelodunum was known locally as “Arthur’s burh” in the early 12th century according to a charter of Henry II. This seems to indicate a local memory of the fort having hosted Arthur’s mounted retinue before Camlann. It is for this reason that Carlisle is remembered in many of the medieval romances as the court of Arthur despite it actually being in modern York.

When the approaching invaders were sighted, possibly from the manned fort at Birdoswald, a rapid deployment of cavalry could be made to the very next fort west of Uxelodunum which was Camboglanna. This is where the two hosts clashed and Arthwys was killed. Looking north from Camboglanna there is a cluster of hills several miles away in Kershope Forest that overlook the flat plain in front of the fort and wall. Here we find another toponym possibly commemorating Arthur’s presence called “Arthurs Seat”. However this is a very common place name found all over Britain. Rivers tend to retain names of greater antiquity and so it is of great interest that the Cam Beck flows into the River Irthing less than a kilometre south of Camboglanna. The root of “Irthing” is the Brythonic “Arth” meaning bear according to Andrew Breeze. Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that after the Battle of Camlann Arthur was transported by Taliesin on a boat to Avalon. The River “Arth” may well attest to an echo of truth in this claim. The River “Arth” does in fact flow from Camboglanna to Avalana after merging with the River Eden and passing through Luguvalium.

Taliesin was a contemporary of Urien and served as Rheged’s court bard recording many interesting snippets of information about different historical events and figures. Urien was born in around 520 so it is possible both of them were present at the Battle of Camlann as young men in 537. It seems unusual that Taliesin the renowned bard wouldn’t have recorded any poems of his own recounting the events of Camlann and transporting Arthwys to Avalana. I believe that three of his most archaic and difficult to interpret poems do exactly this, namely Marwnat Vthyr Pen, Kadeir Teyrnon and Preiddeu Annwn.

The “Marwnat Vthyr Pen” or “Death Song of Uther Pendragon” on first glance doesn’t appear to relate to Arthur but his traditionally attributed father Uther. As Aurochs has comprehensively demonstrated Arthwys was actually a son of Mar and not any Uthyr. There is no Uthyr anywhere in the historical record. It was a characteristic mistake by Geoffrey of Monmouth that first seeded this into the Arthurian canon. One of Geoffrey’s main sources was the Historia Brittonum which according to its earliest version was written by a son of Urien, probably Rhun, and so was relatively close to the historical Arthwys. Two versions of the Historia Brittonum directly state Arthur was called "in British mab Uter, that is in Latin terrible son, because from his youth he was cruel". Geoffrey simply misinterpreted “mab Uter” as “son of Uther” when it was actually an appellation for Arthur himself. This means that all post-Galfridian literature omits Mar as father of Arthwys.

This also means that the references to Uthyr Pen Dragon in pre-Galfridian material is actually referring to Arthur as exemplified in “The Dialogue of Gwyddno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudd” where Arthur is called “Arthur uithir” meaning Arthur the Great and Terrible. In the early poem “Pa Gur” Arthur must list his companions where Mabon mab Modron is called the “Servant of Uthr Bendragon” which would only make sense in the context of the poem to be referring to Arthur himself. In a poem by Taliesin called “Death Song of Madog” Madog is referred to as “the son of Uthyr” which means Madog could actually be a son of Arthur. The only Madog in the area frequented by Taliesin in this period is Madog Morfryn father of Myrddin. The only record we have of Myrddins genealogy beyond Madog Morfryn is a record by the “literary forger” Iolo Morganwg who claims Madog is son of Morydd map Mar, brother of Arthwys. The uncertain validity of this reference means that Myrddin could actually be grandson of Arthwys which would explain their close association in later romances. A post-Galfridian poem called “Arthur and the Eagle” has Arthur talking to an eagle in an oak tree about the merits of Christianity. The God Lleu assuming the form of an eagle and sheltering in an oak tree in the Mabinogion is an obvious parallel to this tale. The eagle reveals itself as the son of Madog ap Uthyr, which in my view suggests the eagle could be a disguised Myrddin advising his grandfather from the future. The eagle does refer to itself as nephew of Arthur but this could be another post-Galfridian confusion. A complete analysis of this is beyond the scope of this article.

Returning to the pre-Galfridian “Death Song of Uther Pendragon” by Taliesin we can now read the poem through the lens of “Uthyr Pendragon” as meaning “Great and Terrible Head Dragon” as a title for Arthur. The poem seems to be spoken from the perspective of Arthur in the first section and then switches to the perspective of Taliesin in the second section. I will be stitching together two different translations of the poem from Skene and Haycock to make the most sense of the narrative for our purposes. It does seem to verify Geoffrey’s story that Taliesin was witness to Arthur’s final hours and may be a genuinely ancient account of the event. It further strengthens the identification of Uthyr as Arthur that in the body of the poem “Uthyr” isn’t named anywhere and yet the name “Arthur” does appear as the focus of the eulogy. The poem begins with Arthur exclaiming his virtues:

Arthur continues in what I believe is an account of the Battle of Camlann where he died hence the poem:

The poem them switches to the perspective of Taliesin who says:

The attested presence of “Avagddu” at the battle between two plains is highly significant. In “The Tale of Taliesin” recorded by Elis Gruffydd we learn that “Avagddu” means “Utter Darkness” which was a title given to Morfran ap Ceridwen because of his extreme ugliness. In “Culhwch and Olwen” Morfran is one of the three persons at Arthur's Court who survived the Battle of Camlann because of his ugliness. “No man placed his weapon on him at Camlann, so exceedingly ugly was he; all thought he was a devil helping. There was hair on him like the hair of a stag”. The strong association of Avagddu with the Battle of Camlann confirms that the “Death Song of Uthyr Pen Dragon” is about Arthur at Camlann. We will discuss other relevant lines of this poem when most relevant including the line about Arthurs opponents “Cawrnur’s sons” after the next poem.

The next poem by Taliesin that I believe also recounts the “Battle of Camlann” is called “Kadeir Teyrnon” or “Chair of the Famous Lord”. This poem is extremely archaic and as such is notoriously difficult to translate and interpret however Haycock shares my belief that it is fundamentally a poem about Arthur. The poem opens by teasing the identity of the poems focus before it is revealed to be Arthur:

After teasing the identity of the lord and listing his virtues and feats of war the identity of the lord is revealed:

Taliesin then recounts his bardic skill and the generosity of the lords that have hosted him before vaunting his knowledge by posing a series of challenging questions:

After this Taliesin voices anxieties about foreign invasions from the sea, perhaps in reference to the amassing numbers of Angles arriving and settling:

Taliesin then seems to lament the death of Arthur:

Taliesin then perhaps eulogises Arthur’s rise to prominence around the area of Hadrian’s Wall:

Taliesin concludes with more anxieties about the future in reference to the Angles which tells us about the sentiments in the court of Rheged before Uriens own rise to prominence:

There is a lot of information that can be extracted from this intriguing poem. Firstly it confirms that Arthur was seen as a great warrior king and military commander possibly operating in the Hadrian’s Wall region which confirms the idea of Arthur as essentially a continuation of the “Dux Britanniarum”. It also states he is “from the stock of Aladur” which is a reference to the Romano-British God of war Mars-Alator. This probably just means Arthwys was a warlike king but could also be a poetic allusion to being son of “Mar”.

We will deal with Taliesin’s question of fortification knowledge later. Taliesin portrays Arthur as having conducted a daring raid to steal horses from a rival named “Cawrnur”. This is a repetition of the enemy found in “Marwnat Vthyr Pen” in which Taliesin portrays Arthur saying: “It is I who defended my sanctuary” “with vigorous swordstroke against Cawrnur’s sons”. Firstly this confirms both poems are talking about Arthur, but furthermore it confirms that he probably died fighting this enemy “Cawrnur’s sons” at Camlann. The identification of this enemy is a relatively simple one. Caw of Prydyn was a famous Pictish King in the Old North who conquered the Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late 5th century. Caw was famous for reputedly having twenty four sons including the bard Aneurin who composed “Yr Gododdin”, the famous Gildas and a famous warrior king named Hueil. In the “Life of Gildas” the Saint is called son of “Caunus” which seems to be a variation of the “Casnur” used in “Marwnat Vthyr Pen” as another name for Caw or “Cawrnur” of Prydyn. Aneurin ap Caw also gives us the earliest reference to Arthur (alongside Taliesin) and alludes to conflicts between the more northern kingdoms and the Coeling. This identification of “Cawrnur’s sons” is very interesting for a number of reasons, later legendary accounts hold Caw and his son Hueil as traditional enemies of King Arthur.

It is mentioned in “Culwch and Olwen” that Hueil ap Caw never “submitted to a lord's hand” and that he stabbed Arthurs nephew causing a feud between the two of them. Hueil is also mentioned as one of the “Three front leaders of battle” in the triads. In the Breton “Life of Gildas” it says Hueil was “a very active man in war, who, after his father's death succeeded him to the throne”. In the “Life of Gildas” by Caradog of Llancarfan it is confirmed he is the oldest of Caw’s sons. It also tells us that “Hueil, the elder brother, an active warrior and most distinguished soldier, submitted to no king, not even to Arthur. He used to harass the latter, and to provoke the greatest anger between them both. He would often swoop down from Scotland, set up conflagrations, and carry off spoils with victory and renown”. Arthur eventually killed him during one of these raids.

Elis Gruffydd tells a more humorous version of events. Hueil “obtained possession of one of Arthur's mistresses”. This caused Hueil to injure Arthurs knee in combat over the affair. Arthur agreed to leave Hueil in peace but later he crept back into Hueils court dressed in women's clothes to spy on a girl:

“Huail chanced to come there, and he recognized Arthur by his lameness, as he was dancing in a company of girls. These were his words: This dancing were all right if it were not for the knee”.

Arthur beheaded Hueil on a stone for this insult. Tradition says this stone can be seen in the marketplace of Ruthin, Denbighshire to this day.

A saying is attributed to Hueil in the “Sayings of the Wise Men” that “Often will a curse fall from the bosom”. This could be a reference to his fight with Arthur over “one of Arthur's mistresses”. It has always puzzled historians how Gildas can omit any mention of the historical King Arthur in his writings when they were contemporaries. In the “Life of Gildas” by Caradog it says that after hearing that Arthur had killed Gildas’ brother Hueil that “he was grieved at hearing the news, wept with lamentation”. Giraldus Cambrensis claims Gildas destroyed "a number of outstanding books" about Arthur after hearing of the death of his brother which would explain why there is no mention of Arthur in his works. Gildas also set up a monastery over the grave of his father Caw at a place in Strathclyde called “Cambuslang” which could offer an alternative location for the Battle of Camlann, however Camboglanna is still preferred in my view.

As Aurochs has previously mentioned Medraut ap Letan of Gododdin married Cywllog, a daughter of the northern king Caw. This could mean that Medraut was allies with “Cawrnur’s son” Hueil at the Battle of Camlann. The “Life of Gildas” by Caradog has another tale about a wicked king called “Melwas” who violated and abducted Arthur’s wife Gwenhwyfar. Melwas and Medraut can be identified as the same person which is interesting as then both Hueil and Medraut are reputed to have abducted Arthur’s consort. Gwenhwyfar is often cited as being involved in the instigation of Camlann in other sources such as the triads which states Medraut “dragged Gwenhwyfar from her royal chair, and then he struck a blow upon her”.

From all the analysis above a narrative of Camlann can be reconstructed. In the wake of the volcanic winter of 536 a series of raids occurred between the Coeling and the more northerly kingdoms of Strathclyde, Gododdin and Pictland. Arthwys himself “bore off from Cawrnur, pale harnessed horses”. In response women and cattle were abducted by “Cawrnur’s sons” and Medraut. This caused great anger amongst the Coeling who mustered a great host combining the forces of Arthwys and Rheged. Anticipating another raid the Coeling ambushed a combined force from Strathclyde, Gododdin and Pictland. This is “when the bands of four men feed between two plains” at Camboglanna. The four men were Dux Bellorum Arthwys Uthyr Pendragon allied with Meirchion the Lean of Rheged (With Urien and Taliesin in his host) fighting against “Cawrnur’s sons” lead by King Hueil ap Caw who was allied with Medraut ap Letan of Gododdin. This is when Arthwys:

Arthwys was slain by a warrior from Gwynedd fighting for Gododdin called Cydywal ap Swyno. There were very few survivors of this battle with perhaps every King dying in action. A pyrrhic victory for the Coeling. After the battle, Arthwys (and probably Meirchion) were transported west by barge on the River “Arth” to the Fort of Avalana for burial. This was conducted by a party including a young Taliesin and probably the new young King Urien as well as probably the new King Eliffer ap Arthwys who inherited command of his “Great Warband”. In the next section I will look at evidence that reinforces the identification of “Aballava” or “Avalana” with the legendary Avalon.

The first piece of supporting evidence for the identification of the Roman Fort Aballava as Geoffrey’s legendary Avalon is the previously mentioned record in the Ravenna Cosmography calling it “Avalana”. Secondly the geographical context supports the theory. The western end of Hadrian’s Wall was commanded from Luguvalium. The first fort to the east of Luguvalium is Camboglanna, the site of Camlann. The first fort to the west of Luguvalium is Avalana. Both forts are connected by the River “Arth”. The bard Taliesin has been demonstrated to have been present at Camlann and was said by Geoffrey to be the one transporting Arthur to Avalana by barge. Taliesin was the bard to Rheged which held court in none other than Luguvalium exactly between Camboglanna and Avalana.

A “Breton Lay” called “Sir Landevale” was recorded by Marie de France in the 1170s and so narrowly post-Galfridian. The original source was supposedly Breton bardic folklore. It preserves what could be a separate tradition to that of Geoffrey of Monmouth. A knight called Sir Landevale falls into debt and leaves Arthur’s court in Carlisle. Riding west Sir Landevale comes across a naked fairy who was the daughter of the King of Avalon. After falling in love and concluding the rest of the tale Sir Landevale and the fairy princess move to the Isle of Avalon together. This tale seems to be a retelling of Urien conceiving Owain at a stream with the Pagan Goddess Modron daughter of Afallach. Although the important piece of information that it preserves is the directions to Avalon to the west of Carlisle, which is exactly the location of the Fort of Avalana.

There is a reference to the burial of Arthur in the triad “Three Men of Shame were in the Island of Britain” which says simply that he was “buried in a hall on the Island of Afallach”. This as far as I know is the only source that confirms Arthur was actually buried in a place called Afallach or Avalon. His grave is also mentioned in the “Stanzas of the Graves” as "a wonder of the world is the grave of Arthur". Other translations differ but this could be a reference to Hadrian’s Wall itself, of which the Fort of Avalana was a part.

In the early 14th century King Edward I temporarily based his court in Carlisle whilst he was campaigning in Scotland. Edward is known to have modelled himself on the image of King Arthur. He tried to become High King of all Britain with extensive campaigns in Wales and Scotland. He even constructed a round table for himself which can still be seen in Winchester today. It is probable that whilst holding court in Carlisle he was regaled with the local tales of King Arthur and Avalon. In the summer of 1307 Edward caught dysentery and died. However it is curious that he didn’t die comfortably in Carlisle Castle, instead he chose to travel west to the Fort of Avalana where he died on the Sul Wath (Or Ford of Maponus). He was laid to rest in St Michaels Church which sits within the site of the old Roman fort. Perhaps Edward heard tales of Avalana and chose to emulate Arthur even in death hence his puzzling journey.

The Taliesin poem “Kadeir Teyrnon” that we analysed earlier contains details of Arthurs life and death. In a section of the poem Taliesin poses a challenge testing the audiences knowledge of presumably local fortifications saying:

I believe these seven forts comprise those under the control of Rheged from Luguvalium at the western end of Hadrian’s Wall. From West to East: Maia, Coggabata, Aballava, Uxelodunum, Luguvalium, Camboglanna and Banna. These were probably the forts within the old Roman Civitas Carvetti which corresponds roughly to modern day Cumbria. These forts are also commonly grouped together in souvenir bowl artefacts such as the Rudge Cup and the Staffordshire Moorlands Pan.

The three forts “between the sea flood and the low water mark” are Maia, Coggabata, Aballava which are all situated in a low lying coastal marsh that frequently floods during high tides. This is probably why Avalana is often referred to as an island. The remaining four forts “in the havens of Britain” are Uxelodunum, Luguvalium, Camboglanna and Banna. Taliesin notes after the four forts about a “tumult of lords” which is probably a reference to the battle at Camboglanna. It is highly significant that Taliesin makes allusions to both Camboglanna and Avalana in a poem about Arthurs life and death. There is a third and final poem Taliesin composed about Arthur with a more mystical tone.

The archaic poem “Preiddeu Annwfn” was Taliesin’s attempt to mythologise his first hand account of Arthurs final passage to the Otherworld. It is fair to say he successfully enchanted Western Culture for millennia with his inspired work. It recounts a voyage to the Otherworld Annwfn by Arthur and his warriors. The major theme seems to be Taliesin's sadness at Arthurs passing, variations of “And when we went with Arthur, sad journey” are repeated throughout the poem which ends with “may I not endure sadness”. Arthurs physical burial in Avalana was conflated with Taliesin's account of his passing to Annwfn which is why the term Avalon became simply another name for the otherworld. The poem may also contain an intellectual attack on Gildas with Taliesin repeatedly attacking men of the church with such lines as “I don’t rate the pathetic men involved with religious writings”. It seems he had a disdain for those who complain without taking action “pathetic men with their trailing shields, with no go in them”. Taliesin says that of the many men that accompanied Arthur on his raid only seven returned which is perhaps a reflection of the Battle of Camlann itself. Taliesin describes seven different forts in the otherworld, although these seven forts are thought to symbolise the ascent through the seven heavens or celestial bodies, knowledge of which Taliesin displays in his “Song of the Macrocosm”.

The poem is also credited as the beginning of the grail legend. Arthur and his warriors are targeting the King of Annwfn’s cauldron which was “kindled by the breath of nine maidens”. Modron is the leader of the nine sisters who became the Morgan le Fay and nine sorceresses of the later romances. On the opposite side of the Ford of Maponus to Avalana is the Clochmabenstane, which according to old surveys used to be a Neolithic stone circle comprised of nine stones. Stone circles around Britain are often equated with the Nine Maidens even today. Perhaps at one time ritual processions occurred from Avalana down the Ford of Maponus to the circle of Mabon and Modron. This is just speculative however the Roman Historian Procopius describes Britain as divided by a great wall that is a lush paradise to the south and a land of the dead to the north:

“the inhabitants say that if a man crosses this wall and goes to the other side, he dies straight away. They say, then, that the souls of men who die are always conveyed to this place”

There is no better place than the Ford of Maponus for the souls of the dead to make this crossing. It is also interesting that in the romances both Cai and Peredur must kill the nine sorceresses. The historical Cai (Ceidaw ap Arthwys) and Peredur (Peredur ap Eliffer ap Arthwys) both had involvements in the “land of Mabon” region of south west Scotland. The Battle of Arthuret was fought over religious practises according to one tradition. According to Tolstoy, Myrddin was a priest of this cult.

In this article I won’t do a deep dive on the grail motif however I will briefly cover the link to the Celtic “Severed Head Cult”. The otherworld cauldron referred to by Taliesin is frequently referred to elsewhere in Celtic mythology. A depiction of the Gundestrup Cauldron shows warriors being reincarnated after getting dunked in a cauldron by a God.

In the Mabinogion tale “Branwen” the God King Bran (“Bran” means Raven) has a magical cauldron that rebirths warriors. At the end of the tale the cauldron is destroyed and Bran is mortally wounded. He commands his men to decapitate him and bury it under the Tower of London. After feasting for seven years with the head they bury it facing France to protect from foreign invasion. Ravens have been kept there ever since. Winston Churchill even ensured the “unkindness” of Ravens was fully stocked during WW2. It was reported that during a visit to the Tower in 2003, the Ravens spooked Vladmir Putin by saying “Good Morning!” to him. According to the triads “Arthur disclosed the Head of Bran the Blessed from the White Hill, because it did not seem right to him that this Island should be defended by the strength of anyone, but by his own”.

In the earliest Arthurian romances that feature the grail it is guarded by the “Fisher King” sometimes called “Bron” which is an allusion to Bran. In the French romance “Perceval, the Story of the Grail” the hero receives the grail whereas in the Welsh equivalent romance “Peredur son of Efrawg” the hero instead receives a severed human head in place of the grail. Another extremely common manifestation occurs throughout the romances which is known as the “beheading game” such as that in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It is thought that when the warrior submits to receiving the decapitating blow he undergoes a symbolic death and rebirth. These cultural artefacts date back to the practices of the ancient celts who were known by classical writers to revere the head as the seat of the soul. As Tolstoy points out there was a custom at the festival of Lughnasa of taking a carved stone God head from its sanctuary and placing it on top of a hill for the duration of the festival. It is for this reason carved stone heads of deities are one of the most common artefacts found in Celtic regions. There are large numbers of these artefacts found in the Old North, those found in the Rheged and Hadrian’s Wall area are thought to depict Mabon. Llywarch’s account of decapitating Urien after his death and carrying his head back to the “land of Mabon” is probably evidence of similar beliefs flourishing in the time of Arthur “A head I bear by my side,

The head of Urien, the mild leader of his army”. Perhaps the head of the sovereign symbolised the soul of the kingdom which must be rebirthed through the divine mother (Modron) and divine son (Mabon).

This brings us to our next monument of intrigue. If Taliesin really did bring Arthwys to one of “the three fortresses between the sea flood and the low water mark” and was subsequently “buried in a hall on the Island of Afallach” then perhaps there remains a monument to Arthwys at the Fort of Avalana as we find for Owain at Dacre. The obvious place to start looking is the fortified St Michaels Church, Burgh-by-Sands which sits on the site of the old Fort of Avalana built with repurposed Roman stone. Specifically it sits over the Roman granary building which is interesting as at the Fort of Banna (Birdoswald), also controlled by Rheged, archaeological investigations have found the remains of two post-Roman 6th century large timber halls over the granary buildings. Perhaps the “hall on the Island of Afallach” was a large timber hall built on the granary at Avalana by the same builders for the same reasons as the hall at Banna.

The church dates to the Norman period but is thought to have been built on top of older structures. Perhaps even directly on top of the “hall on the Island of Afallach”. Inside the church we find a number of monuments that according to Pevsner pre-date the Norman Church itself. The first of these is a carved Romano-British stone head depicting some God-King complete with distinctive unshaven top lip characteristic of this type of votive stone head. It is situated prominently above the altar. There is some disagreement about its date with some sources saying it is Norman but I agree with Pevsner that it is a repurposed Romano-British object. Perhaps at one time this head was repurposed to commemorate Arthwys or maybe it is even a depiction of Arthwys himself.

The second monument of interest inside the church is also of contested date and origin, some sources say Norman and some say it is earlier and Anglo-Saxon. To my mind this simply means it is of uncertain early medieval origin and thus open for speculation. They both seem to match the style of other early medieval artwork featuring the same subjects. Two pieces of stone masonry used to build the undercroft depict animal carvings which both, perhaps coincidentally, feature animals prominently associated with Arthwys. There is no consensus as to what the first animal is, but to my eyes it looks very much like a bear. The name “Arthwys” is of course derived from the Brythonic word for bear “Arth”. The association here with Arthur is obvious. The second animal depicts a large bird, probably a raven. Ravens were intimately associated with passing over into death in the British Heroic Age. In the Taliesin poem “Death Song of Uther Pendragon” which we earlier deciphered as a eulogy to Arthur’s death at Camlann we find the line “May he be possessed by the ravens and eagle and bird of wrath”. Throughout Britain there has long been folkloric superstitions associating King Arthur with the Corvid family of birds summarised in the Spanish novel “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes “there is an ancient tradition, generally believed all over Great-Britain, that he did not die, but was, by the art of enchantment, metamorphosed into a raven”, perhaps we have found the source of this belief in Taliesin's poetry. The reference to Arthur in the Yr Gododdin also does so in relation to Corvids “He brought black crows to a fort's Wall, though he was not Arthur”.

While the God-King stone head and the animal carvings could easily be nothing to do with Arthwys whatsoever, if you were to imagine artefacts adorning his shrine these wouldn’t be far off the mark. Even if they both post-date the time of Arthwys, they may be preserving an older memory.

Part Two: Pirate Princes of Rheged

In Part One of this series we analysed the sequence of events in the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Rheged. This article will outline a possible survival of a branch of the Rheged dynasty through Pasgen ap Urien. In Part One it was demonstrated that the critical turning point for Rheged was Ecgfrith son of Oswy inheriting Rheged through his mother Rheinmellt ferch Rhoath. We will see a convergence onto Ecgfrith in this article as well however we will construct our argument in a reverse chronological order starting in the 9th century Kingdom of Gwynedd.

Merfyn Frych was the first king of Gwynedd not descended from the famed Cunedda. He took the throne through his mother Essylt, daughter of King Cynan ap Rhodri. It was after the death of Cynan's brother Hywel ap Rhodri, that the last male descendent of Cunedda was extinguished. Earlier Hywel was banished from Anglesey by his brother Cynan in a dispute over Kingship, consequently Merfyn hosted him on The Isle of Man. According to the “Cronica Walliae” Hywel enjoyed land on the Isle of Man and "other lands in the North" for five years until his death. It is unspecific where these "other lands in the North" were located. Merfyn's father was Gwriad ap Elidyr of Manaw (Isle of Man). As Merfyn inherited the throne of Gwynedd matrilineally there is scant information about his father Gwriad. His patrilineal origins are thus unclear.

According to genealogies from Jesus College MS 20 Gwriad ap Elidyr is traditionally ascribed descent from prominent northern figure Llywarch Hen:

Merfyn Frych ap Gwriad ap Elidyr ap Sandde ap Alcwn ap Teged ap Gweir ap Dwc ap Llywarch Hen ap Elidyr Lydanwyn ap Meirchion Gul ap Gwrwst Ledlum ap Ceneu ap Coel Hen

An inscribed Brythonic "Cross of Gwriad" was found on the Isle of Man dating to the correct period confirming that Gwriad ap Elidyr belonged to an elite Brythonic dynasty on Manaw. The cross was found on the eastern extreme of the island at Maughold, directly opposite the Cumbrian coast and an old hill fort called Caernarvon, which translates roughly as "Fort overlooking the island". Caernarvon, near Beckermet, is the closest point of the mainland as the crow flies for journeying from the old kingdom of Rheged to Ynys Manaw (Isle of Man). Caernarvon lies on the old Roman road to the nearby Roman port of Ravenglass. In folklore Ravenglass is reputedly home to the faery King Afallach, who oversaw passage to the other worldly western island of Avalon. It is reasonable to assume from the geographical context and the mytho-poetic parallel that frequent trips were undertaken between Caernarvon-Ravenglass and Ynys Manaw.

As an interesting aside, near Caernarvon an ancient cross in St Bridget's Church, Beckermet has a strikingly similar appearance to the Pillar of Eliseg in Wales. The inscription reads: “H[I]N[-]LE[D-E] IUDI[I-D.H] *[-N]IET *O[-..]E [.]X[-]”. At present this text has not been deciphered, nor has the language in which it was written been determined. It dates to the same period as the Pillar of Eliseg and the Cross of Gwriad. The Pillar of Eliseg was erected by Cyngen ap Cadell, the King of Powys. Merfyn Frych had good relations with his neighbour Cyngen ap Cadell, he was married to his sister Nest. An interesting Hiberno-Latin text known as the Bamberg cryptogram, written in Merfyn's court, also reveals "Merfyn the king greets Cyngen", which confirms the close relationship between the two kings and allies. It is very possible Cyngen and Merfyn patronised the same mason by commissioning stone crosses in similar styles: The Pillar of Eliseg and the Beckermet Cross respectively, this may explain their similar appearance. It may be that the Beckermet Cross reveals Merfyn's aforementioned "other lands in the North" beyond the Isle of Man. This is of course rampant speculation and until the Beckermet Cross inscription is deciphered we may never know.

However we do know that in the 9th century, Northumbrian power was waning on this western edge, which lead to its eventual annexation by the British Kingdom of Strathclyde into a greater "Cumbraland". It is certainly possible at this time that Merfyn could have projected his power from the nearby Isle of Man to reclaim rule of his ancestors territory around Caernarvon. The Historia Brittonum says that Caernarfon in Gwynedd was also called “Mirmantun”. This alternate name stands for “Merfyn's Town”. This connection of Merfyn to Caenarfon in Gwynedd, perhaps suggests that the parallel Caenarvon in Cumbria was “Merfyn's Town” too. Both fortifications were strategic outposts overlooking his core territory on the Isle of Man.

Putting the Beckermet Cross speculation to one side, the Cross of Gwriad definitively attests to the presence of Brythonic elite settlement on the Isle of Man, a dynasty probably stretching back to the old kingdom of Rheged given Gwriad's supposed descent from Llywarch Hen, a known warrior and bard of Rheged. The Irish sea was a convenient and well used corridor of travel for Britons of the period, and so seeking refuge on the Isle of Man or in Ireland is certainly feasible for a late 7th century elite retreating west. A confirmed example of exactly this tactic is Cadwallon ap Cadfan who retreated to Ireland when besieged by Edwin only to later return and conquer. Evidence of a late 7th early 8th century British war band fleeing west during the reign and expansion of Ecgfrith into Rheged is found in the Annals of Ulster (Years 682, 697, 702, 703 & 709). These Britons were repeatedly raiding Ireland which many scholars directly link to expelled British Princes from Rheged. I will discuss this in more detail later.

By 685, the year of Ecgfrith’s death, the capital of Rheged was in Northumbrian hands when Cuthbert visited the Romano-British city of Carlisle to marvel at its impressive structures and see Ecgfrith’s wife Iurminburh. It is during the reign of Ecgfrith that rule of Rheged seems to have passed from the last recorded King Rhoath ap Rhun, grandson of Urien Rheged, to Ecgfrith. Probably inherited through his father Oswy's marriage to Rhoath's daughter Rhienmellt, as discussed in Part One of this series. This seemingly peaceful accession of power was probably viewed negatively by a faction of the Rheged elite who weren’t comfortable with what they likely viewed as an Angle interloper as ruler. It is this faction that likely fled west to the Isle of Man and Ireland during Ecgfrith’s reign at some point around or before 670. After Ecgfrith’s death in 685 at the hands of the Picts, Northumbrian expansion ceased and in some cases reversed. This halted westward expansion could have allowed an exiled Rheged elite to cling to power in their small island kingdom to freely raid Ireland as recorded in the Annals of Ulster. This remnant Rheged elite eventually culminating in Merfyn ap Gwriad.

There is however a few problems with Merfyn's uncertain genealogy. Thought to be a descendent of a prominent Llywarch of Rheged, the famed bard Llywarch Hen was assumed, and thus inserted into his genealogy as recorded in Jesus College MS 20. The problem with Llywarch Hen being listed as Merfyn’s ancestor is that all of Llywarch's many sons were known to be killed in battle after Llywarch encouraged their careless behaviour. The poetry of Llywarch tells us:

This left him a lonely, bereft and impoverished old man with no heirs. After the devastation of his family in the various wars of Rheged, Llywarch fled over land to Powys. He eventually died as a famously old hermit with no sons. This means Llywarch Hen's descendants were likely not amongst those fleeing to the Isle of Man in the late 7th century, as any that did survive were in Powys. This would seemingly contradict his involvement in establishing a dynasty of rebel pirate Princes on the Isle of Man. The traditional ancestry of Merfyn ap Gwriad therefore can't simply be accepted as that stated in Jesus College MS 20.

A reference to Gwriad in the Welsh Triads confirms the uncertainty of his genealogy. The Welsh Triads mention "Gwryat ab Guryan yn t Gogled" or "Gwriad son of Guryan in the North", counted among the "Three Kings who were the Sons of Strangers". This is normally taken as a reference to Gwriad the father of Merfyn, who was the “son of a stranger” by not being a descendent of Cunedda. It is possible that "Guryan yn t Gogled" is a corruption of Uryan or Urien in the North, making Merfyn and Gwriad possible descendants of Urien, and not his cousin Llywarch. There is another curious genealogical tradition also preserved in Jesus College MS 20 which claims descendants of Urien settled in Wales after the fall of Rheged:

That Ellelw was daughter of Elidyr son of Llywarch son of Bledri son of Mor son of Llywarch son of Gwgon (son of) Ceneu Menrudd who lived for a year with a snake round his neck.

Ceneu Menrudd was son of Pasgen son of Urien Rheged.

This genealogy is chronologically impossible for its stated lineage, it is out of place by significant margins and therefore cannot be correct. It is normally taken as nonsensical legend, but perhaps it preserves some other truth. Interestingly the string of names includes a few familiar ones including "Elidyr son of Llywarch", otherwise relatively uncommon names in Wales. This seems very reminiscent of Gwriad ap Elidyr's genealogy. The traditional descent of Gwriad seems to have a few agreed upon commonalities: Gwriad was a descendent of some Elidyr; who was a descendent of some Llywarch; Gwriad was of the Coeling Rheged dynasty; possibly through some Uryan. If we assume the recorded genealogy of Ellelw ap Elidyr also preserves an alternative traditional genealogy for Gwriad ap Elidyr we find an interesting possibility. Ellelw and Gwriad could be siblings. Hypothetically if we assume that Ellelw ap Elidyr is the sister of Gwriad ap Elidyr, then Gwriad’s new ancestry would be as follows:

“Gwriad son of Elidyr son of Llywarch son of Bledri son of Mor son of Llywarch son of Gwgon son of Ceneu Menrudd son of Pasgen son of Urien Rheged”

To test this new theoretical lineage we can see if known dates of floruits align for the figures of Merfyn Frych 800-ish to Urien 550-ish, assuming generational increments of 25 years on average:

"Merfyn Frych [800] ab Gwriad [775] ab Elidyr [750] ab Llywarch [725] ab Bledri [700] ab Mor [675] ab Llowarch [650] ab Gwgon [625] ab Keneu Menrudd [600] ab Pasgen [575] ab Urien [550].”1

This alternative genealogy of Merfyn ap Gwriad seems to satisfy the dating perfectly, as well as harmonizing both conflicting genealogical traditions from the triads and Jesus College MS 20. It is possible the general tradition of an “Elidyr descended from a Llywarch of Rheged” confused the accurate transmission of Merfyn's genealogy. If we compare the well aligned dating of the alternative genealogy with the dating of the traditional genealogy we see a further problem:

“Merfyn Frych [800] ap Gwriad [775] ap Elidyr [750] ap Sandde [725] ap Alcwn [700] ap Teged [675] ap Gweir [650] ap Dwc [625] ap Llywarch Hen [600]”

The Bonedd lists Llywarch as first cousin and contemporary of Urien and therefore his floruit is also 550-ish (not 600), and his death was roughly 608 earning his epithet “Hen” or “The Old”. Llywarch’s floruit is incorrect by a factor of two generations. This dating of Merfyn’s ancestors further shows the traditional genealogy in Jesus College MS 20 is unlikely to be correct. The Jesus College MS 20 was compiled in the 14th century, 500 years after Merfyn ap Gwriad, it is unsurprising that it could contains some errors. It is possible that a later Ellelw was mistaken for Ellelw ap Elidyr of Manaw, which would explain the puzzling chronological error of the entry, whilst simultaneously preserving and neatly satisfying Gwriad ap Elidyr’s genealogy with the correct number of generations in the correct time period.

It seems almost certain that Gwriad’s father was named Elidyr. The crux of the lineage seems to be in the generation preceding Elidyr. It is curious that it is in this generation, the late 7th early 8th centuries, that the traditional line of Kings ruling Manaw ending in Tudwal ap Anarawd is terminated. There must have been a change of elite at some point after around 725, otherwise Idwal would have inherited the throne from his father Tudwal ap Anarawd which he didn’t. This line of previous Manaw Kings were originally expelled to the Isle of Man from Galloway at an earlier date, probably by an expansionist Rheged. It is more than a coincidence that around the late 7th early 8th centuries an exodus from Rheged to the Irish Sea occurs, and then a new line of rulers is installed on Manaw shortly after.

According to the incorrect genealogy in Jesus College MS 20, Elidyr’s father Sandde is installed as the new ruler of Manaw. He supposedly inherits the kingdom through his wife Celenion ferch Tudwal. The genealogy of this Celenion appears to be a confused copy from an earlier Harleian geneology for Idwal ap Tudwal. An alternate explanation is that an insurgent Rheged dynasty took over Tudwal’s territory around this time through Elidyr’s actual father Llywarch ap Bledri. This event was remembered in tradition as something like “rule was passed to Elidyr son of Llywarch of Rheged”. This was retroactively reinterpreted in the 14th century to be a reference to the famous Llywarch Hen of Rheged, from which the incorrect genealogy was constructed, when in reality Elidyr ap Llywarch belonged to our alternative genealogy descended from Pasgen ap Urien. Llywarch was remembered so prominently in the genealogical memory of Merfyn because he was the first King of Manaw in his lineage.

From this new lineage and rough timeline we can construct a speculative chronological narrative about the exile of this Princely war band. We can also see what their major exploits were whilst marauding around the Irish Sea and their eventual return to Kingship in Manaw and Gwynned.

Of Urien’s sons Pasgen was the younger brother of Owain, Rhun, Rhiwallon, Cadell, Deifyr and Elffin. Most of these sons of Urien were killed in battle leaving only Rhun and Pasgen in the early 7th century. Welsh tradition asserts Pasgen sired numerous sons: Ceneu Menrudd, Gwgon, Mor, Llyminod Angel, Gwrfyw. They went on to found multiple dynasties in Wales. Pasgen is noted in the poetry of Llywarch Hen to be active in the southern portion of Rheged at a place called Yrechwydd, which is thought to be the modern day southern Lake District. In the ensuing chaos that followed Urien’s assassination, Pasgen and his brother Owain were fighting off raids by Dunod from the neighbouring kingdom Dunoting. After Pasgen’s brother Owain died fighting elsewhere, Rhun inherited rule of Rheged. This means Pasgen and his son Ceneu Menrudd were probably based near Caenarvon-Ravenglass when a tactical withdrawal from Rheged may have began, in the wake of Rhun and Rhoath’s perceived problematic actions.

In the Triads Pasgen ab Urien is listed as one of the “Three Arrogant Men” of Britain. This arrogance is unexplained but could indicate disdain for his brother Rhun’s growing relationship with the Angles. Pasgen was known by some of his descendants in North Wales as “the stock of the tribe of the raven kindred”. This motif derived from the mythologised Ravens of Owain ab Urien. Bartrum's Welsh Classical Dictionary asserts that Pasgen was thus considered the true heir of Owain ab Urien. In some genealogies Pasgen is incorrectly recorded as the son of Owain, perhaps due to being considered his true heir. This could indicate an ideological schism between the King Rhun and his brother Prince Pasgen. Perhaps Pasgen’s lingering hostilities to the Angles earned him the status of true heir amongst some supporters, hence the establishing of new lands to the West away from Angle influence. He was also known as Pasgen "of extensive spoil", this indicates he may have gained significant new territory for himself to establish this new dynasty.

However it seems most likely that the rebel faction began its initial stages of departure from Rheged when the Kingdoms inheritance was promised to Oswy and Rhienmellt’s sons by King Rhoath. Rhoath perhaps had no male heirs of his own. It was likely during the early to mid 7th century that the exodus took place. This significant event was therefore most likely during the floruit of Ceneu Menrudd possibly with his elderly father Pasgen in an advisory capacity. Ceneu Menrudd probably disagreed with his cousin King Rhoath about this inheritance plan, perhaps because he had a claim and male heirs of his own. Therefore in about the year 650 Ceneu Menrudd led a significant portion of the Rheged Warrior elite across the Irish sea to seek sanctuary and sponsorship in the court of the High King of Ireland. This may have been inspired by Cadwallon ap Cadfan a generation earlier.

Interestingly and unusually we are given some supplementary information about Ceneu Menrudd in Jesus College MS 20. Ceneu "of the Red Neck" we are told "lived for a year with a snake round his neck" hence its redness presumably. This is reminiscent of the entwined serpent-like chords of a golden torc, like that adorning Merlin in battle: “And in the Battle of Arfderydd my torc was of gold”. The encircling serpent motif was common in ancient European cultures from the Norse world serpent to the coiled Serpent of the Orphic Egg. The Britons also held the serpent as a highly valued symbol. From Pliny's Natural History we learn more about the beliefs of the ancient Druids. "The serpent's egg" was worn around the neck for success in a court of law. (Although the Emperor Claudius killed a native Gaul for wearing "the serpent's egg" in court). We also learn from Pliny that "A vast number of serpents are twisted together" to produce "the serpent's egg", the person who catches the serpents egg must flee with haste "for the serpents will pursue him until prevented by intervening water". The serpent's egg survives into modern day Welsh folklore known as "Glain Neidr" or “Druid Stones” complete with the same creation story "by a congress of snakes". These Adder Stones feature in two tales of the Mabinogion including tales of Peredur son of Efrawg and Owain ap Urien, in both cases the Adder Stones give magical powers relating to invisibility to aid the heroes. Perhaps the reference to Ceneu of the Red Neck wearing a "snake round his neck" was a poetic cultural reference to his disappearance across the Irish Sea driven out by his serpent-like cousin Rhoath "the serpents will pursue him until prevented by intervening water".

There is a similar tradition relating to protective “intervening water” attributed to Merfyn’s brother Cilmin Troed-ddu indicating a possible familial tradition passed down from Ceneu. Cilmin is said to have assisted a magician in stealing the books of a demon. He was pursued by the demon, but saved by leaping over a stream. Cilmin’s left leg plunged into the water and became black. Hence his epithet “Troed-ddu” or “Black Foot”. This is a thematically similar epithet based on a coloured body part much like the “Red Neck” of Ceneu.

Ceneu Menrudd had a son with the relatively uncommon name “Gwgon”. Often families named their sons after their prominent forefathers. For example, Merfyn's son Rhodri the Great had a son called Gwriad after Merfyns father. This Gwriad ap Rhodri had a son called Gwgon. The recurrence of this uncommon name in the hypothesised lineage of Gwgon ap Ceneu Menrudd could be another indicator that this speculative genealogy is the correct one.

Returning to our speculative chronology, in 675 after his pursuit by serpents Ceneu Menrudd’s descendants found themselves in the service of the High King of Ireland Finsnechta Fledach in the Kingdom of Brega. Finsnechta was noted in “The Fragmentary Annals of Ireland” to have won many allies to his cause by way of his generosity. It is this reputed generosity that likely drew the exiled Rheged war band to his court seeking to offer their military service in exchange for payment, much like the Angle foederati in their homeland. In the late 7th century Finsnechta was campaigning in the Northern Kingdoms of Ireland. In 676 he destroyed Ailech and in 679 participated in Battle of Tailtiu against the King of Ulster. There is no mention of any participation by any British mercenaries in these conflicts, but in the Annals of Ulster 682 we get our first mention of the Rheged war band: “The Battle of Ráith Mór Maigi Lini against the Britons”. The entry goes on to imply the Britons were victorious in this battle against the northern Kingdom of Cruithin in which they killed two Irish Princes. It is possible this victory was a part of Finsnechta’s campaign against the northern Kingdoms for which he had hired the Britons. They might have participated in his other battles too.

By this time Ecgfrith had become the King of Rheged and Northumbria. Northumbrian power peaked with Ecgfrith and he was wary of any threats to his reign. It is likely he heard reports of this rogue British warband in Ireland growing in power and prestige amongst the courts of the Irish Kings. Ecgfrith knew about the exile of Cadwallon to Ireland a generation earlier. Cadwallon returned with increased strength and ultimately he conquered Northumbria. This lesson was still fresh in his mind relayed to him by his Father and Uncle who put an end to Cadwallon’s Northumbrian conquest. This period of Ecgfrith’s reign was during the floruit of Mor ab Llowarch. Mor had a rival claim to the throne of Rheged and still probably held open hostilities to his distant cousin Ecgfrith. Ecgfrith was conscious of this growing threat which is why he took unprecedented action.

In 684 two years after the British victory over the Cruithin, Ecgfrith launched an invasion of the Kingdom of Brega. This was in retaliation for harbouring his rival distant cousins. This invasion has long puzzled scholars who characterise it as an unusual and illogical event. No other Anglo-Saxon King had ever launched an attack on Ireland. There is no popular suggested motive for the attack, it even puzzled Bede who similarly offers no motive. In his Ecclesiastical History Book 4 Chapter 26 Bede recalls the event:

Egfrid, king of the Northumbrians, sending Beort, his general, with an army, into Ireland, miserably wasted that harmless nation, which had always been most friendly to the English

Egbert, advising him not to attack the Scots, who did him no harm

Bede goes on to assert that Ecgfrith’s death the next year was punishment for this sin and then further relays that Northumbrian power began to wane after this time as covered in Part One of this series. The entry in the Annals of Ulster recalling Ecgfrith’s invasion only says “The Saxons lay waste Brega, and many churches”. The next year after Ecgfrith’s death, the Abbot of Iona travelled to Northumbria and successfully negotiated the release of 60 Irish hostages. This shows that the Northumbrian motive was probably not an attack on the Irish themselves but a warning against harbouring dangerous British fugitives.

This warning seems to have had the desired effect as after this time the wandering Rheged war band had entered the service of a different Irish Kingdom. They were now fighting for one of Finsnechta’s northern rivals, King of Ulaid Becc Bairrche. The Annals of Ulster record in 697 the Ulaids and the Britons laid waste to Mag Muirtheimne in County Louth, home of a border tribe of Ulidia known as the Conaille Muirtheimne. It is probably in the service of their new King or just as an act of revenge that in 702 the Annals record the new King of Brega Irgalach grandson of Conaing was killed by Britons in “Ireland’s Eye” near Dublin. This new alliance with Ulaid did not last long, much like the Angle foederati they turned on their masters.

The Annals record in 703 the Britons and Ulaid were at war. The Battle of Mag Cuilind was fought in the Ards Peninsula. Perhaps this was a bid to carve out a Kingdom for themselves after sensing a vulnerability in Ulaid. Their bid for control was unsuccessful as the Ulaid were victorious and “the son of Radgann” was slain. This reference to a British warrior cannot be recognised in our genealogy of Princes however this “Radgann” may be remembered in British tradition as “Rhiogan”. This Brythonic name is mentioned as an Irish ruler in the Mabinogion Tale “The Dream of Rhonabwy” featuring Arthur and Owain Rheged.

The last recorded mention of the Rheged war band in the Annals is in 709. Now in the service of King Cellach Cualann of Leinster, they fought in the Battle of Selg somewhere in the Wicklow Mountains. The interesting thing about this final reference is the Brythonic name “Luirg” appearing recorded as one of “Cellach’s Britons”. “Luirg” is the Irish spelling of the Brythonic name “Louargh”. An example of this Brythonic name in use is in the “Subsidy Rolls of Glamorgan” in 1292 “Eynon ab Louargh”. This Brythonic name “Louargh” is an early Welsh spelling of “Llywarch”. Significantly this confirms the presence of a Brythonic warrior named Llywarch in Ireland in the early 8th century. This is the same Llywarch as we have earlier demonstrated as appearing in the genealogy of his Great Grandson Merfyn Frych. This entry could validate our entire speculative theory about Merfyn’s actual descent from Ceneu Menrudd ap Pasgen, who lead the exiled war band from Rheged.

The dating of Llywarch as present at a battle in 709 is slightly early for the theoretical floruit of 725 which we earlier assigned him. The generational increments in this calculation are very flexible. It is very feasible a young Llywarch born in 694 could have been present at the Battle of Selg at the age of 15. It is this Llywarch that in the next decade or so lead the Rheged war band from Ireland and settled on the Isle of Man. This is the event that displaced King Tudwal of Manaw in the early 8th century. This explains why there are no more mentions of the British mercenaries in the Annals of Ulster after this point. It also explains why the rule of Tudwal on Manaw was usurped in his generation not passing to his son Idwal. It also explains why Llywarch was so prominently remembered in the genealogical tradition of Merfyn because he was the first King of Manaw of his lineage.

Llywarch’s grandson Gwriad ap Elidyr erected the Cross of Gwriad at Maughold opposite their old homeland of Rheged. It was from their small and hard won Kingdom on the Isle of Man that Merfyn ap Gwriad won the crown of Gwynned from the line of Cunedda. This restored their royal line back to their former status not seen since the days of Urien. It was possibly also Merfyn Frych that occupied a small part of their former territory of Rheged. Merfyn may have erected the Beckermet Cross near Caernarvon when Northumbrian power waned in the area. Perhaps he even assisted with the annexation of the region by Strathclyde shortly afterwards.

The dynasty of Merfyn Frych would go on to spawn many of the most famous Welsh figures such as Rhodri the Great, Hywel Dda, Owain Gwynedd, Llywelyn the Great and indirectly Owain Glyndwr, the Tudors and according to one genealogy even the modern bard Eminem. The Tudor Kings of England and Wales fulfilled Myrddin’s “Prophecy of Britain” by restoring rule to the line of Coel Hen. The Tudors very own court wizard John Dee, who himself claimed descent from Merfyn Frych, would go on to conjure the very idea and terminology “British Empire” and the fate of the world with it. He gave Queen Elizabeth a book he authored called “The Limits of the British Empire”. This text was inspired by King Arthur’s conquering of otherworldly realms such as “Atlantis” according to Dee. This provided a mandate to reclaim these lost British lands. After his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Henry Tudor was greeted at the gates of Worcester with a poem demonstrating his appeal to ancient British prophecy:

It is of further note that many of these traditions from the Old North such as the prophecies of Myrddin seemed to enter the historical record with Merfyn Frych. For example, the Historia Brittonum, which recounts many events in the old north, was written upon the arrival of Merfyn Frych in Gwynedd. It contains a passage which states that it was written in “the fourth year of king Merfyn” hence 829. The Chartres manuscript of the Historia Brittonum begins with this heading:

Here begin excerpts of the son of Urien found in the Book of Saint Germanus, and concerning the origin and genealogy of the Britons, and concerning the Ages of the World.

It is uncertain which son of Urien contributed to the authorship of the Historia Brittonum. Most scholars believe this refers to Rhun, however it could potentially have been Pasgen. Rhun was an educated man of the church, a Bishop who baptised Anglian King Edwin. He was personally close to many of the events described in the manuscript so his credited authorship is logical. It is very probable that Nennius was working from an earlier manuscript compiled by Rhun or his brother Pasgen. This manuscript seems to have landed in North Wales with Merfyn Frych. It would make sense if these materials and traditions recalling and romanticising the glory days pre-exile were transported and preserved in the hands of a rebel Coeling Prince via the Irish sea.

Merfyn was cementing his Northern heritage in the histories of his newfound kingdom. The earliest poems of the northern bards Taliesin, Llywarch Hen, Aneirin and Myrddin were all first recorded around the 9th century, probably in Gwynedd. Merfyn is also directly associated with Myrddin. He is mentioned in "The Conversation of Myrddin and His Sister Gwenddydd". One tradition in 16th century manuscript The Chronicle of Elis Gruffudd asserts that Merfyn Frych is the father of Myrddin, although this apocryphal text is likely inspired by a confusion of similar names. These traditions: Taliesin, Myrddin, Arthur and Urien were almost certainly transferred by a literate Coeling Rheged elite, whether by sons of Llywarch Hen or Urien. Merfyn’s descendants long held the memory of their northern roots as exhibited by the twelfth century Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd’s boastful poem Gorhoffedd, in which he seeks to emulate the famous bard Myrddin “Music of praise such as Myrddin sang”. Hywel recounts his own journey to Carlisle, in what he still poetically considers Rheged, the land of his fathers namesake:

Over the past year p5ych0p0mp and I have had quite a few discussions about sub-Roman Britain, the Brythonic Heroic Age, the Old North, and the idea of a Northern Arthur. p5ych0p0mp is ridiculously knowledgeable, honestly, more-so than I am, and when he approached me with an earlier version of this article I was blown away and encouraged him to publish it somewhere, and offered my substack if he didn’t want to start one of his own. He masterfully melds sources into a coherent narrative and gives a fantastic overview of the late 6th and early 7th century happenings in the Old North, and early Northumbria. You can find and follow p5ych0p0mp on twitter with the button below. Thank you for reading and be sure to catch Part Two next week!

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Part One: The Rise and Fall of Rheged

In the late Roman period the decadent British elite were under threat from Pictish and Scottish raiders. According to Gildas in his polemical “On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain” they were lead by the “usurper” Vortigern and decided to settle allied Germanic foederati in the eastern regions of their land to face this threat. This was a common practice in late Rome. Their aid in defence would be exchanged for food and other payments. As these settlements grew in size the foederati soon revolted in complaint that their payment was insufficient. This revolt developed into an island wide war which according to British tradition was eventually quelled by King Arthwys at Badon. An unstable peace was agreed upon and the foederati returned to their settlements in the eastern provinces of Britain. This “peace” lasted for about a generation.

In this context we shall focus on the fate of the British Kingdom of Rheged in the “Hen Ogledd” or Old North. The Old North can be roughly considered the region between York and Edinburgh, it spanned the entire width of the island and was centred on Hadrian’s Wall straddling the modern day border between Scotland and England.

The most direct evidence for precisely locating Rheged comes in the form of a later 12th century boastful poem by Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd. The poem recounts the Prince’s journey to “Caer Lliwelydd”, modern day Carlisle, which he explicitly locates in the land of Rheged. Despite Rheged ceasing to exist centuries earlier, the romantic memory of it’s location persisted, and indeed linguistic evidence in the area suggests there were still Brythonic speakers present even at this late stage.

Taliesin was the 6th century court bard of Rheged, he provides us with a myriad of named locations to reinforce this identification:

“The lands of Llwyvenydd” is the modern River Lyvennet, which is a tributary of the larger River Eden. The Lyvennet Valley and surrounding area have many Romano-British monuments from which many interesting artefacts have been found such as the Asby Scar Sword, the ornate Crosby Garrett Cavalry Helmet and the Crosby Ravensworth Druidic Divination Spoons.

The River Eden which the Romans recorded as “Ituna” is itself mentioned in Taliesin’s poetry, noted for it’s rich bounty as “Idon’s lavish wine”. The Eden Valley stretches down from the Westmorland Dales through the heart of Cumbria to Carlisle and the Solway Firth at its end. It is oft characterised as a lush fertile valley nestled between the upland Pennine and Lake District Fells, which perhaps explains “Lord of the cultivated plain” also found in the poetry.

“Lord of Erechwydd” is another Taliesin location which means “Area of fresh water” or sometimes “Glittering West”. This is normally interpreted as the Lake District by scholars.

Most scholars therefore locate the core of Rheged at the aforementioned locations. The main court of Rheged was most likely at Carlisle, which was also mentioned by Taliesin, “Caer Lliwelydd” in a poem about attack by a rival ruler Cunedda. It was known as “Luguvalium” by the Romano-Britons, meaning “Walled Town of Lugus”, an important Celtic deity, and was the civitas capital of the Carvetti tribe. The vast Roman infrastructure of the Hadrian’s Wall complex and beyond provided the Kingdom of Rheged with considerable strategic advantage.

Rheged did have a period of vast expansion predominantly under the 6th century King Urien, to whom Taliesin most often sang in praise. He is variously described as “Lord of Catraeth”, modern day Catterick, that he is “a protector in Aeron” modern day Ayr, and that he pushed all the way to Lindesfarne at the peak of his power. Place name evidence in the hill fort “Dun Ragit” or Fort of Rheged in the west of Dumfries and Galloway verifies this theorised expansion. We also have “Reget Gill” in Furness, Cumbria, indicating this was possibly the southern extent of his power. This large territory made him probably the most dominant power in the Old North.

To briefly outline the major surrounding Kingdoms in the rest of the Old North in the mid 6th century, we have the British: Strathclyde to the North West around Glasgow, Goddodin to the North East around Edinburgh, Dunoting-Craven to the South around Lancashire and West Yorkshire, Elmet around Leeds and Ebrauc around York. We also have the Anglian Kingdoms of Bernicia directly to the East and Deira to the South East. For the most part we will be considering the interplay of these Kingdoms and will only mention other historical actors when relevant.

Often when analysing this period, over simplifications are made asserting a straight forward ethnic conflict between Angle and Celt, but as we shall see it is more complex than this. I will outline a roughly chronological series of major events that saw the rise and fall of Rheged, though it should be noted that the narrative will be highly speculative in places.

Urien Rheged lived approximately 530 to 590 and was a descendant of Coel Hen, who was possibly the last “Dux Britanniarum” or military commander of the Old North during the late Roman period. Urien’s full genealogy is as follows: Urien son of Cynfarch (the Dismal) son of Meirchion (the Lean) son of Gorwst (the Ragged) son of Ceneu (Grandfather of Arthwys) son of Coel Hen. Coel Hen was the progenitor of many royal dynasties such as that of Arthwys himself. These descendants became known as Coeling or Sons of Coel. Urien was a famous leader in his own right and was prominently eulogised as “Lord of Prydein” and remembered as one of the “Three Pillars of Battle”, “Three Battle Leaders” and “Three Bull Protectors” of Britain in the Triads.

The Triads also say that Urien was married to a Pagan Goddess “Modron daughter of Afallach” King of the Celtic Otherworld. She became the Morgan le Fay of Arthurian legend. Modron was fated to bare a child by the Christian King Urien who gave him a son Owain, who is himself equated with the archetypal divine son Mabon. Mabon was the Celtic equivalent of Apollo, and the “Locus Maponi” or cult centre was within the bounds of Rheged as recalled by the place names Lochmaben and the Clochmaben Stone. Taliesin describes Rheged as the “country of Mabon” further confirming its location. Urien and his sons were Christians, however they didn’t seem to shy away from romantic syncretism. Much of Taliesin’s poetry is semi-pagan in nature such as “The Spoils of the Otherworld” and the Tolkienesque “Battle of the Trees”. Alongside the prominent Owain, Urien had other sons named Rhun, Elffin, Cadell, Rhiwallon and Pasgen.

The expansion of Rheged seems to have been initiated without Urien’s direct involvement. The Battle of Arfderydd, which occurred in 573 according to the Annales Cambriae, happened in Urien’s lifetime a short distance north of Carlisle at Carwhinley. Carwhinley meaning Caer Gwenddoleu was an area ruled by the Pagan King Gwenddoleu. He was reputed in the Triads to have kept two fierce birds as guardians that ate two men for dinner and two more for supper. Although thought to be a king, it is possible he was a sub-king to Urien’s overlordship. The Triads tell us the battle was fought over a “Lark’s nest”, which was probably a border dispute related to the nearby Caerlaverock or “Fort of Lark’s”, which seems to have been a lasting boundary related to the Ruthwell Cross which we will discuss later. Gwenddoleu was accompanied in battle by his legendary bard Myrddin adorned in a “golden torc”. As told in “The Dialogue of Myrddin and Taliesin” after witnessing the slaughter, Myrddin was driven into a divine madness and fled to the Forest of Celidon to become a prophetic wild man hunted by his enemies. Eventually decades later Myrddin approached the churchman Cyndeyrn Garthwys son of Owain Rheged, otherwise known as St Kentigern the founder of Glasgow. He prophesied his own “triple death” whilst converting to Christianity and promptly went on to die “Pierced by a stake, suffering stone and wave” thus fulfilling his own prophecy. Myrddin’s grave lies “When Tweed and Powsail meet”. This gift of prophecy was perhaps bestowed by the psychopomp God Gwyn ap Nudd who according to another poem was "at the place where was killed Gwendoleu, the son of Ceidaw, the pillar of songs, where the ravens screamed over blood." In another account of Arfderydd it is said Myrddin “saw a supernatural light and hosts of angels casting their lances at him”. On the opposing victorious side of battle were jointly Rhydderch Hael, King of neighbouring Strathclyde, as well as Peredur and his brother Gwrgi rulers of Ebrauc. The battle became known as one of the “Three Futile Battles” in the Triads alongside the Battle of Camlann where “Arthur and Medraut fell” 36 years earlier. Interestingly Camlann occurred less than 10 miles south east of Carwhinley at the Roman fort of Camboglanna on Hadrians Wall. Peredur and Gwrgi were cousins of Gwenddoleu, and they were all grandsons of Arthwys ap Mar. Myrddin was also grandson of Medraut, who was Arthwys’ brother. Any potential link between these two battles given their legendary related participants and proximity is elusive, however the outcome is more simple.

Despite seemingly having no involvement in the battle, Urien stepped in to fill the void left by Gwenddoleu’s death. He absorbed the Kingdom under his direct rule. This modest Kingdom of Gwenddoleu seems to have spanned between Ruthwell and Bewcastle and stretched down to Birdoswald on Hadrians Wall, which was another inhabited fort at this time. Birdoswald was previously known as “Banna” and was home to the famous St Patrick a few generations earlier where he was abducted and enslaved by Irish raiders. We will revisit these important boundary locations later. It was in this time that Urien expanded north west to the fort of Dun Ragit and further, abutting Rhydderch Hael’s Strathclyde Kingdom to the North. Taliesin’s poetry relays that Urien came to Aeron, modern Ayr, not as an aggressor, indicating he had good relations with Rhydderch Hael. Two poems mention the “Battle of Alclud Ford” near Strathclyde’s stronghold. Anglian King “Ulph came with violence on his enemies”. Urien defeated “Ulph at the ford” which earned him the title “protector in Aeron”. Fighting this battle with Rhydderch Hael made them good allies. The same poem briefly mentions a series of other battles against both Angle and Briton from this expansionist period:

It is probably at this time that Urien also crossed the Pennines to his south eastern frontier to control Catraeth, which strategically guarded the east-west Roman road providing a buffer zone to any eastern threats. This earned him the epithet “Lord of Catraeth”. During this period of expansion it seems Urien greatly enriched himself as “the chief of warriors, procurer of vast booty” and “the Gold King of the North”. Urien’s most valued material prize however was cattle. He is repeatedly referred to as a renowned cattle raider. One of the main enemies of the Sons of Coel was the rival dynasty the Sons of Cunedda. Cunedda was the progenitor of both Gododdin and Gwynedd. Therefore it comes as no surprise that Urien’s most daring cattle raid targeted the British Kingdom of Manaw Goddodin:

This cattle raid was the catalyst for the next significant conflict in the Old North. The orthodox view of the famous poem “Y Gododdin” by the bard Aneurin is a straightforward Briton vs Angle narrative. A band of warriors is assembled by the King of Gododdin, Mynyddog Mwynfawr. Mynyddog generously provided them with a year of feasting and drinking mead at his fortress Din Eidyn, modern Edinburgh. After a year they marched on Catraeth and are subsequently slaughtered by their enemy in battle. It is suggested this enemy is the Angles of Deira in the poem. The bulk of the poem is a eulogy to the fallen warriors. It also contains one of the earliest references to Arthur.

Leading scholar John Koch suggested a strong alternative interpretation based on Stanza 15 that calls “the sons of Godebog” an enemy. This is a reference to "Coel Hen Godebog" and Urien who we already know is the “Lord of Catraeth”. This tells us that Urien was actually allied with the Anglian Deirans and was the true victor of the Battle of Catraeth. The exact nature of Urien’s relationship to Deira is unknown: Urien as overlord, Urien’s hired foederati or just as simple allies. This Rheged-Deira dynamic will be examined in detail later. To buttress this alternate theory we get confirmation in the poetry of Taliesin. A poem called “The Battle of Gwen Ystrad” records the Battle of Catraeth from the opposite perspective, that of the victors. The name means Gwen Valley, and probably refers to nearby Wensleydale. The poem says their enemy were “Men of Prydein” from the north, which lines up with a Goddodin enemy perfectly. The opening lines of the poem refer to Urien as Lord of Catraeth and renowned cattle raider:

This confirms the cause of the Battle of Catraeth was Urien’s previous cattle raiding activities on Gododdin who responded with a failed raid of their own. Gododdin recruited many warriors from their kin in Gwynedd and as such many of these warriors were slain by Urien and the Deirans. Another poem called “Moliant Cadwallon” tells us about Cadwallon of Gwynedd’s motivations in enacting another attack on the region a generation later with his own curious ally in Saxon Pagan King Penda. He wanted to avenge his kin in retribution for the “sadness or loss of Catraeth”. We will discuss Cadwallons 7th century campaign later in the chronology.

The “Moliant Cadwallon” also tells us about a third ally of Urien, blaming the "fierce Gwallawc wrought the great and renowned mortality at Catraeth". Gwallawc of Elmet was a known ally of Urien as recorded in the Historia Brittonum. His presence at the Battle of Catraeth again confirms that the Sons of Cunedda (Gododdin and Gwynned) were attacking the Sons of Coel (Gwallawc and Urien). This reference also helps us date the Battle of Catraeth to before the Siege of Lindesfarne after which time Urien was dead and Gwallawc an enemy of Rheged. This will also be discussed later. The following lines from “The Battle of Gwen Ystrad” give us a further clue to the date:

Here Urien is described as a “grey-haired lord” presiding over the bloody scene at a river ford. Therefore the Battle of Catraeth can be dated to around 580 nearing the end of Urien’s reign. After dispatching their British rivals a new enemy appeared to challenge the near hegemonic power of Rheged.

The next dedicated battle poem in the works of Taliesin is “The Battle of Argoed Llyfain”. This battle likely occurred shortly after Catraeth. It is Urien’s son Owain who lead the forces of Rheged, perhaps due to the “grey haired lord” Urien’s advanced age. Their adversary was a Bernician King called “Fflamddwyn” which means Flamebearer. Fflamddwyn surrounded the seat of power within Rheged and demanded hostages and submission from Urien. This incited a robust response:

We learn from the later “Death Song of Owain” confirmation of the battle site and that Owain personally killed Fflamddwyn leading the charge:

The Cumbric word “Llwyfen" means Elm tree, this element present in both poems identifies the battle site of “Argoed Llwyfain” or “Near the Elm Wood” as the same very same Llwyfenydd, which is elsewhere described as a stronghold of Rheged and is identified with the Lyvennet Valley, Cumbria. There remains in this valley, and surrounding area, numerous Romano-British settlements. Ewe Close (Ewein Close?) or Castle Folds on Asby Scar being two of the possible battle sites. It is unclear which Bernician King “Fflamddwyn” was, but the Historia Brittonum tells us that “Theodoric fought bravely, together with his sons, against that Urien.” It was probably his actions that sparked the next response to this new Anglian menace.

The Historia Brittonum also tells us that, in about the year 590, Urien assembled his ally Gwallawc from the Battle of Catraeth, his ally Rhydderch Hael from the Battle of Alcud Ford and a third ally Morcant Bulc. Urien lead them on a campaign against Hussa of Bernicia. A series of running battles occurred “sometimes the enemy and sometimes our countrymen were defeated”. The Yarrow Stone is a monument just West of Lindesfarne that possibly commemorates two sons of Rhydderch Hael who died in this campaign. Its inscription reads “This is an everlasting memorial. In this place lie the most famous princes Nudus and Dumnogenus. In this tomb lie the two sons of Liberalis”. “Liberalis” is the Latin for the Welsh “Hael”.

The British alliance gained the upper hand and pushed the Angles all the way back to the Island of Lindesfarne where for three days and three nights Urien laid siege to Hussa. This was the peak of Urien’s power. He had won all of his conflicts and was on the verge of completely driving the Bernician Angles out of the Old North. His victories were enough to cement himself a place alongside Arthwys in the British heroic tradition. He may have even gone on to eclipse the accomplishments of Arthwys had there not been another twist in the tale.

Amongst his allies a conspiracy was unfolding lead by Morcant Bulc. One day when Urien was on patrol an agent of Morcant assassinated Urien. A poem by Urien’s cousin Llywarch Hen tells us that it occurred at Aber Lleu, modern day Ross Low, at the hands of a man in the pay of Morcant named Llofan Llawddifro who is also known as one of “Three Savage Men” in the Triads. Llywarch cut the head off Urien’s corpse to save it from further defilement and carried it back to Rheged. “The head of Urien, the mild leader of his army. And on his white bosom the sable raven is perched.” The ancient Celts believed the head was the seat of the soul.

The Historia Brittonum tells us that Morcant was envious of Urien’s superior military prowess. A triumphant Urien certainly would be a threat to the smaller neighbouring kingdoms. His assassination became known as one of “Three unfortunate assassinations” in the Triads. Little else is known about Morcant, although we know he was also a descendant of Coel Hen from the preserved genealogies. The “Life of St Kentigern” suggests that Morcant’s kingdom was somewhere in Dumfriesshire. This makes it likely that Morcant was a sub-King to Urien’s overlordship and wanted to usurp the throne for himself.

After Urien’s death his eldest son Owain became the King, “The Death Song of Owain” by Taliesin hails him as “The Chief of Rheged”. As the poem title implies, Owain's rule was to be short lived. The treacherous assassination of Urien divided the once strong unity of the Coeling. Morcant wasn’t the only participant in the conspiracy against Rheged as the other Kingdoms also turned on their former allies. “The Death of Urien” by Llywarch Hen tells us about the sequence of events that followed Urien’s death. Morcant and another minor King called Bran continued to ravage the lands of Rheged. Gwallawc of Elmet, the former ally from Catraeth and the Lindesfarne campaign, attacked Urien’s son Elphin with cavalry, raiding the southern province of Rheged called Erechwydd. The southerly neighbour of Erechwydd, Dunod of Dunoting, also joined in with the raiding, being repelled by Owain and his brother Pasgen.

Dunod probably died in this skirmish, his death was recorded as 595 in the Annales Cambriae. Llywarch implies, by the line “When Owain and Elphin lived”, that both Owain and his brother Elphin also died, against which of their opponents we can’t be sure. The “Stanzas of the Graves” tells us that “The grave of Owain ab Urien is in a square grave under the earth of Llanforfael”. Owain’s exploits earned him a prominent place in the Arthurian tradition in which he features in a number of romances. Llywarch also says “Were there not given to me by Rhun, the famous chief” indicating that after Owain’s death Rhun took the throne of Rheged, which is later confirmed in other sources. Pasgen also survived but we will explore his story in Part Two of this series. It is confirmed in the “Dialogue between Gwyddno Garanhir and Gwyn ap Nudd” that Gwallawg was slain in battle by the line “I have not been where Gwallawg was slain” but it does not specify who killed him. The Taliesin “Song on Gwallawg ab Lleenawg” gives us a clue to the King of Elmet’s fate:

This implies further conflicts between Gwallawg and the newly crowned King Rhun. We know from reliably dated events elsewhere that Rhun’s death post-dates Gwallawg’s, which means Rhun probably killed Gwallawg ending the intra-Coeling blood feud. The role Rhydderch Hael played in these conflicts is unclear but Nwython or Neithon was ruler of Strathclyde after him and if the Nudd ap Hael commemorated on the Yarrow Stone was indeed his son and one of the hosts battling Gwallawg, this could imply they were allies with Rhun.

The “Life of St Kentigern” gives us a clue to the fate of Morcant. Kentigern was conceived when Owain impregnated Princess Taneu, daughter of King Lot, by stealth whilst dresses as a woman. Kentigern went on to become a well known Christian missionary in Dumfriesshire. Morcant drove Kentigern out of the region under threat of death. Morcant could have held this antipathy towards Kentigern due to his ongoing feud with the clan of his father Owain. Some years later Kentigern was invited back to the region by Rhydderch Hael who had taken power. Morcant was dead and we can assume it was by Rhydderch’s hand. This affection towards Kentigern ap Owain and hostility towards Morcant suggests Rhydderch was still an ally of Rheged and aided their struggle, probably seizing some territory for his trouble. Kentigern died in around 614 and his remains lie in the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral to this day as patron saint of the city.

Following this disharmonious internecine episode the British Kingdoms of the Old North were severely weakened and disorganised. This chaos allowed the Angles of Bernicia to rapidly regain a foothold with no effective opposition. Many of the weakened and atomised British kingdoms were subsumed and conquered by the Angles.

After the near extinguishing of Bernicia at Lindesfarne the Angles rapidly swept through the territory of Bryneich in the absence of any opposition due to the Coeling infighting. The next British territory to be conquered was Ebrauc which was nestled between Deira and Bernicia.

The Triads tell us that Gwrgant Gwron son of Peredur was one of the “Three Prostrate Chieftains” indicating that rule of Ebrauc had changed hands in the generation before his. The Annales Cambriae lists the death of Peredur and Gwrgi rulers of Ebrauc as being 580. The Triads tell us they were abandoned by their army on the eve of battle against an Angle King “Eda Glinfawr” at “Caer Greu”. This earned them the title one of the “Three Faithless War-Bands”. Peredur is also mentioned in the “Y Gododdin” as one of the fallen warriors fighting with Gododdin at the Battle of Catraeth. “Caer Greu” hasn’t been identified but if we assume it was the same conflict as Catraeth this would make sense. The date 580 for their deaths lines up with our speculated date for Catraeth. We also know that around this time Urien took the territory around Catraeth and that King Aelle of Deira his ally took the rest of Ebrauc’s territory. The two allies at Catraeth and beneficiaries of Ebrauc’s downfall were probably those responsible for the death of Peredur and Gwrgi as well.

In the early 7th century Aethelfrith son of Hussa was King of Bernicia. He was a war-like king who conquered Deira and some unnamed British provinces in around 604. Aethelfrith subsequently banished Edwin son of Aelle. This unification created the Kingdom of Northumbria. Aethelfrith was defeated by Raedwald of East Anglia, who installed the exiled Edwin as King of Northumbria in 616. Edwin exiled Aethelfrith’s sons Oswald and Oswy who fled to Dal Riata.

The Annales Cambriae say in 626 “Edwin is baptized, and Rhun son of Urien baptized him.” This is confirmed in the Historia Brittonum stating Rhun baptized Edwin and 12000 Saxons at Easter. Bede records the same event although he negates to mention Rhun’s role. Bede does however say that most of the Saxons were “baptized in the river Swale, which runs by the village of Catraeth”. This is potentially very significant considering the river ford at Catraeth was the exact location of Rhun’s father Urien and Edwin’s father Aelle’s victory against the Gododdin. Clearly Rhun and Edwin had a strong relationship based on a long running alliance between Rheged and Deira. Furthermore in the Historia Brittonum the preceding information to the baptism tells us that Edwin “seized on Elmet, and Expelled Cerdic, its king.” It is implied in the text that the two events are linked and therefore some scholars directly link Rhun baptising Edwin to Edwin expelling Cerdic from Elmet. Cerdic was son of Gwallawg, the former ally at Catraeth turned rival whom Rhun probably killed in the Lindesfarne Siege fallout. It is speculated that Rhun would support Edwin’s claim to neighbouring Elmet if he agreed to religious submission to Christianity in order to rule his new prospective British Christian subjects. This is also why it appears a relatively peaceful regime change with Cerdic being expelled rather than invaded. In Bede’s account of events he also tangentially links Edwin’s baptism with events in Elmet which potentially confirms this suspicion.

Shortly after annexing Elmet, Bede tells us that Edwin became active in the “Mevanian islands” which are the modern day Isle of Man and Anglesey. This suggests that Edwin extended his rule west of Elmet all the way to the Irish Sea which indicates that the British Kingdom of Dunoting-Craven probably fell under his dominion at this time. The Annales Cambriae state that in 629 “The besieging of king Cadwallon in the island of Glannauc.” This entry tells us that the King of Gwynedd Cadwallon ap Cadfan was besieged on a small island off Anglesey by Edwin. Geoffrey of Monmouth and Reginald of Durham state Edwin was fostered by Cadfan in the court of Gwynedd whilst exiled in his youth. It could be a youthful rivalry between Edwin and Cadwallon that first sparked their momentous conflict. The Triads tell us that Cadwallon escaped Edwin’s siege and retreated to Ireland in order to regroup.

Cadwallon returned to “Ardd Nefon” with his reorganised army who were known as one of the “Three Faithful War-Bands” in the Triads. Cadwallon won a series of minor skirmishes against Edwin pushing him back east. Cadwallon gained a new ally in the Pagan King of Mercia Penda by defeating him in battle according to legend, he reinforced this new alliance by marrying Penda’s sister. Bede tells us the conflict culminated at the “Battle of Hatfield Chase” in 633. “Cadwallon king of the Britons, rebelled against him, being supported by Penda”… “A great battle being fought in the plain that is called Heathfield, Edwin was killed”… “and all his army was either slain or dispersed”. It is likely that Rhun supported Edwin in this battle and was probably killed here as after this time his son Rhoath was ruler. Cadwallon continued his campaign in Northumbria and when besieged by Oscric the new ruler of Deira he "sallied out on a sudden with all his forces, by surprise, and destroyed him and all his army." Bede states that Cadwallon also killed the new ruler of Bernicia King Eanfrith “who unadvisedly came to him with only twelve chosen soldiers, to sue for peace”. Bede also says “After this, for the space of a year, he reigned over the provinces of the Northumbrians, not like a victorious king, but like a rapacious and bloody tyrant”. For a brief time the Old North was once again ruled entirely by British powers. As previously examined, the “Moliant Cadwallon” tells us that Cadwallon’s conquering of the North was at least partially motivated by the “sadness or loss of Catraeth”. This loss was perpetrated at the hands of Rhun’s father, Edwin’s father and the "fierce Gwallawc wrought the great and renowned mortality at Catraeth". The Gododdin were regarded as kin by the kings of Gwynedd as both their kingdoms were founded by Cunedda. The forces of Gododdin had many warriors from Gwynedd present at the battle as eulogised in the “Y Gododdin”.

Upon the death of Edwin and his sons, Oswald and Oswy the sons of Aethelfrith became the heirs to Northumbria. While in exile in Dal Riata both sons became devout Christians in the Celtic tradition. Both were noted by Bede for their piety and sincerity as opposed to the more cynical and politically motivated strain of Christianity that the likes of Edwin ascribed to. Oswald wanted to press his claim to the throne of Northumbria but he lacked an army to confront Cadwallon. The exact composition of his makeshift army is unknown, Bede only says “an army, small, indeed, in number, but strengthened with the faith of Christ”. Not many Bernicians were authentic Christians at this time and it has been theorised that Oswald’s army was partially comprised of Scots and Picts from his Northern contacts. He is recorded to have previously fought for Dal Riata in Ireland.

However John of Fordun tells us that Domnall Brecc King of Dal Riata sent a retinue with Oswald and Oswiu to ensure that they came into their inheritance safely but not to battle Cadwallon. Domnall "even promised to help them against Penda or any of the Saxons; but altogether refused it against Cadwallon and the Britons, who had long been bound to the Scots by the friendship of faithful alliance". It is possible that Gartnait King of Picts sent warriors to aid Oswald as his sister was married to Oswald’s brother Eanfrith who was killed by Cadwallon.

As some have speculated, it is perhaps due to this lack of support that in desperation Oswald came to the court of Rhoath ap Rhun in Rheged. The old enemy of his ancestors whose grandfathers Urien and Hussa famously clashed. There are multiple indicators that Rheged supported Oswald’s campaign. Firstly and most directly it is recorded in the Historia Brittonum that Oswald betrothed Rhienmellt ferch Rhoath to his brother and heir Oswy. Her name which means “Lightening Princess” was Anglicised as “Raegnmeld” and appears first on the list of Queens in the Durham Liber Vitae. This shows that at this time Rheged is still a powerful political and military power whose support was critical for Oswald. Oswald and Rhoath were likely wary of each other given their family histories, but the marriage assured Rhoath’s support for Oswald’s claim, and Oswald’s favourable non-hostile relations should he become ruler of neighbouring Northumbria. Ultimately the common enemy of Cadwallon was enough for them to unite cause and look past previous conflicts. Rhoath would also have seen Oswald’s devout Christianity in the Celtic tradition as a sign of aligned interests. Oswald’s future actions would actually prove worthy of such praise by the British that many were given the Cumbric name “Gososwald” in his honour. This is in the same manner as the Cumbric “Gospatric” after St Patrick and “Gosmungo” after Mungo (An alternative name for Kentigern). The Cumbric element “Gos” means “Servant of”. The only other Angle to achieve this status was Cuthbert, with “Goscuthbert”. It is possible that warriors from Rheged even made up the bulk of Oswald’s army, “an army, small, indeed, in number, but strengthened with the faith of Christ”.

It is evidenced in the account of Bede that Oswald marched his cobbled together army west to meet Cadwallon on Hadrian’s Wall. This approach from the west through the territory of Rheged wouldn’t have been possible without their complicity. It also neatly explains the curious place name of “Birdoswald”, a Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall, which was a manned outpost of Rheged. The etymology of the name is suggested as the Cumbric “Bwrdd-” + “Oswald” by Sir Ifor Williams meaning “Table of Oswald”. An alternate derivation is the Cumbric “Buarth-” + “Oswald” by Andrew Breeze meaning “Cattle yard of Oswald”. Both names indicate a local British population renaming the fort in memory of Oswald’s probable use of it as a marching camp. This once again indicates the local group of Britons had a positive view of Oswald.

The strategic advice of Rheged would have been invaluable to Oswald. Their local experience and strategy ensured Oswald’s forces met Cadwallon at a favourable location which allowed them to outmanoeuvre their opponent. Cadwallon’s forces were trapped between Hadrian’s Wall and Brady’s Crag. The conflict that followed became known as the “Battle of Heavenfield” or “Catscaul” meaning “Battle of the Wall” in the Historia Brittonum. Despite outnumbering Oswald, Cadwallon was killed. The Historia Brittonum calls him “Oswald Llauiguin” as a result of this victory which means “Oswald Bright Blade”, to give him this British epithet again shows that a group of Britons held a positive view of his actions, this group was obviously Rheged and not Cadwallons supporters. Few Anglian Kings earned these cognomens, two of the three others were Oswald’s nephew Ecgfrith who we will discuss later and Oswald’s father Aethelfrith who was given “Ffleisor” meaning “Schemer” showing British disdain for an enemy.

Oswald was now the unchallenged King of Northumbria. His father was Aethelfrith of Bernicia and his mother was Acha daughter of Aella of Deira. It is for this reason that Bede says: “Through this king's management the provinces of the Deiri and the Bernicians, which till then had been at variance, were peacefully united and molded into one people.” One of the first actions Oswald undertook was to convert his people to Christianity. He was sent Aidan from Iona in Dal Riata who became the first Bishop of Lindesfarne in the Celtic tradition. It was for these missionary actions that both Oswald and Aidan received sainthood. For the first time Rheged saw relative stability with a closely allied neighbouring Kingdom of Northumbria with aligned religious interests. It was in this time roughly 635 that Rhienmellt ferch Rhoath and Oswy son of Aethelfrith consolidated their alliance through marriage.

The Annals of Ulster tell us that in the year 638 Dun Eidyn, modern day Edinburgh, the seat of the Gododdin was besieged. Most scholars interpret this as Oswald conquering the Kingdom and incorporating it into Northumbria as Oswy controlled this area in his later reign. This left only Rheged and Strathclyde as the last British Kingdoms of the Old North, predominantly due to their size, advantageous western locations and strategic political manoeuvring.

Oswald died at the Battle of Maserfield in 642 fighting against Cadwallon’s former ally the Pagan King of Mercia Penda and his new British ally of Powys. As recorded by Bede in the same year 642, Oswald’s brother Oswy became King of Northumbria and his British wife Rhienmellt ferch Rhoath became Queen.

As we shall see in the following section the fate of Rheged was determined by Ecgfrith son of Oswy and his maternal lineage is critical. Oswy had two wives who could be Ecgfriths mother: Rheinmellt or Eanfled daughter of Edwin. Most scholars operate with educated guesswork and repetition of the dominant narrative. I will outline the evidence and present an alternative conclusion. For the sake of brevity I will summarise the evidence that indicates Ecgfrith is son of Rheinmellt and not Eanfled. I will expand on some of these points below, and for others check the notes at the end of this article for more detail.

1) We know the earliest possible date for Oswy’s marriage to Eanfled is 642 and latest is 651 from Bede. Eanfled’s mother would not allow a marriage to Oswy and so it wasn’t until after her death in 647 that a marriage could be arranged. Therefore the marriage occurred in 648 a number of years after Ecgfrith was born in 645.

2) Rhienmellt’s known children were Alhfrith in 636, Alhflaed in 638. Eanfled’s known children were Aelfflaed in 654, Osthryth in 659 and Aelfwine in 661. Ecgfrith was born in 645 and so is closer in age to Rheinmellt’s batch of children, furthermore the pattern of births fits her biological probabilities more.

3) The chronology of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History indicates the marriage to Eanfled happened after Bishop Paulinus’ death in October 644 therefore not early enough for Ecgfrith’s birth.

4) Eanfled was very close to Bishop Wilfred and heavily favoured the Romanist Christian tradition. Ecgfrith was an opponent of Wilfred banishing him and heavily favoured the Celtic Christian tradition putting him more ideologically aligned with Rheinmellts influence.

5) Ecgfrith was given an affectionate British cognomen in the Historia Brittonum indicating he was looked upon favourably by the Britons due to his parentage.

6) Ecgfrith is the first Northumbrian king who is recorded to have had any sovereignty in the territory of Rheged by erecting monuments at it’s borders and donating land to Cuthbert. These donations are described as being in partnership with the Britons of the area.

7) There is no records of Rhoath passing rule of Rheged to any sons and there is no records of any conquest. Ecgfrith seems to have peacefully inherited the kingdom which would be more easily explained by his direct descent from Rhoath.

8) Ecgfrith purposefully started a dynasty in Carlisle that is only recorded in British sources and is characterised as “Anglo-British” by many scholars. This dynasty ruled in Rheged but did not rule elsewhere in Northumbria.

9) Bede states that Northumbrian power peaked with Ecgfrith and waned after his death with the Britons regaining their freedom indicating Rheged was united with Northumbria in his lifetime and split off to be ruled by his “Anglo-British” sons after his death.

10) Evidence that a faction of the Rheged elite were exiled and pursued in Ecgfrith’s time. This will be covered in Part Two of this series.

These factors combined make it almost certain that Ecgfrith was son of Rheinmellt and not Eanfled. Bede tells us Oswy died in 670 of illness and subsequently Ecgfrith was crowned king in that same year. The year 670 marks the date Rheged proper ceased to be, but the story doesn’t end there. It is unclear if Ecgfrith inherited rule of Rheged peacefully or if he used force to press his claim. There is circumstantial evidence that points to the latter that we will cover in Part Two of this article about a dynasty of pirate Princes from Rheged.

Ecgfrith is the first King of Northumbria documented to exercise sovereignty over the former territory of Rheged. Symeon of Durham tells us in the “Historia de Sancto Cuthberto” that in the year 685 "King Ecgfrith and all the Britons gave Cuthbert the territory of Cartmel". This interesting quote as correctly translated and interpreted by Fiona Edmonds tells us Ecgfrith was working with the Britons, their consent was seemingly required as well as his in order to grant Cuthbert the land of Cartmel which lies in the southern part of Rheged. It also almost implies he is himself British almost like “Ecgfrith and all the other Britons in addition to himself”. This could be due to his mixed ancestry.

Described by the scholar Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest achievement of their date in the whole of Europe" Ecgfrith erected two impressive monuments that marked the borders of his newly acquired territory of Rheged. The Bewcastle Cross sits within a Roman Fort that was named “Fanum Cocidi” in the Ravenna Cosmography. It was the cult centre to the Romano-British God of war Mars Cocidius. It was also connected by Roman road to the significant early medieval site of Birdoswald on Hadrian’s Wall to the south.

The Ruthwell Cross was the sister monument which is located just to the east in the “Locus Maponi” region near to a minor Roman marching camp. Pythian-Adams and other scholars suggest the significance of these two locations is that it shows Ecgfrith’s adoption of Rheged’s established ancient boundaries integrated into the eastern and western extent of his Celtic Cuthbert-ian Diocese of Lindisfarne in the region. This boundary marked the extent of King Gwenddoleu’s domain where the Battle of Arthuret was fought over a border dispute relating to nearby Ruthwell-Caerlaverock. It is also thought these two locations could also mark the boundaries of the even older Civitas Carvetti which had continuity into Ecgfrith’s time as I will discuss shortly.

The runic inscriptions on the Bewcastle Cross confirms our reasoning. “Cyneburh” is the only confidently legible name, she was the wife of Alhfrith son of Rhienmellt who died before his younger brother Ecgfrith took the throne of Northumbria and Rheged. The main inscription probably reads “This slender pillar Hwætred, Wæthgar, and Alwfwold set up in memory of Ecgfrith, a king and son of Oswy. Pray for their sins, their souls”. The location of both crosses marking Ecgfriths adoption of Rheged’s boundaries coupled with the dedication to possibly both sons of Rhienmellt makes it very likely these impressive monuments were erected to honour the union of the Kingdoms as personified in Ecgfrith. Bishop Biscop and Ecgfrith brought stonemasons from France in 674 and both crosses probably date from this time.

Symeon of Durham tells us in the “Historia de Sancto Cuthberto” that Ecgfrith granted Cuthbert the Romano-British city of Lugubalia and the area extending 15 miles in circuit. This grant of Ecgfrith’s newly inherited territory should be interpreted more as ecclesiastical jurisdiction than land ownership. It is probably no coincidence that Bewcastle itself lies almost exactly 15 miles away from Carlisle.

Bede tells us in the “Life of St Cuthbert” that there was continuity of Romano-British tradition into Ecgfrith’s reign which he accepted and highly valued. Bede describes a visit to Carlisle by Bishop Cuthbert who was welcomed in British areas as an advocate of the Celtic Christian tradition. Interestingly Bede uses the Romano-British name for Carlisle “Lugubalia” which is unusual in his writing. In it’s time Lugubalia was home to the largest Roman cavalry unit in Brittania housing 1000 horses and men at the Uxelodunum Fort just to the west of Camboglanna and just to the east of Aballava, both evocatively named Arthurian locations.

We learn from the “Notitia Dignitatum” that this cavalry unit known as the “Ala Petriana” was under the direction of a “praefectus” under the Dux Britanniarum. Bede tells us that the purpose of Cuthbert’s visit to Lugubalia in 685 was to visit Ecgfrith’s wife Queen Iurminburh who was based here. Cuthbert is given a tour of the city by a “praepositus civitatis” to view the impressive stone walls and still functioning fountain presumably with adjoining aquaduct. This tells us that Romano-British titles, tradition and maintenance of infrastructure had continuity into Ecgfrith’s rule. Cuthbert and Iurminburh were awaiting the outcome of Ecgfrith’s campaign against the Picts. Cuthbert went on to have a prophetic vision of Ecgfrith’s death as described by Bede.

The Historia Brittonum tells us that Egfrith was campaigning against “his maternal cousin” King Bridei of the Picts. Bede gives us a detailed account of the Battle of Dun Nechtain: “rashly leading his army to ravage the province of the Picts, much against the advice of his friends, and particularly of Cuthbert, of blessed memory, who had been lately ordained his op, the enemy made show as if they fled, and the king was drawn into the straits of inaccessible mountains, and slain with the greatest part of his forces, on the 20th of May, in the fortieth year of his age.”

The power of Northumbria peaked with Ecgfrith and after his death their power waned. Bede talks about the aftermath of the battle: “From that time the hopes and strength of the English crown "began to waver and retrograde"; for the Picts recovered their own lands, which had been held by the English and the Scots that were in Britain, and some Of the Britons their liberty, which they have now enjoyed for about forty ­six years.” It is unclear which territories of the Britons regained their independence after Ecgfrith’s death but the former territory of Rheged largely falls out of the historical record after 685.

In the “Life on St Cuthbert” Bede also says “Not very long afterwards, the same servant of God, Cuthbert, was summoned to the same city of Lugubalia, not only to consecrate priests, but also to bless the queen herself with his holy conversation.” This tells us that even after Ecgfrith’s death, Iurminburh was comfortable living in this region and seems to have regarded it as safe place for her to settle Ecgfrith’s heirs. There is no record in any Anglo-Saxon source that Ecgfrith left any heirs and for this reason his illegitimate half-brother Aldfrith became King of Northumbria. No descendent of Ecgfrith ever held the crown. There is however a record of a dynasty sired by Ecgfrith in the British source Historia Brittonum:

“Oswy begat Ecgfrith, the same is Ailguin, who begat Oslach, who begat Alhun, who begat Adlsing, who begat Echun, who begat Oslaph”

Here Ecgfrith is given the favourable British epithet “Ailguin” meaning “Fair Brow” reminiscent of his uncle Oswald’s “Bright Blade” cognonem. This shows a positive relationship with the Britons due to his parentage hence the curious inclusion of his dynasty not found elsewhere. It is the opinion of scholars such as Pythian-Adams, Dumville and Jackson that this dynasty represented the “Anglo-Celtic” rulers of the former territory of Rheged as largely independent sub-kings who derived their authority from Ecgfrith’s Anglo-British heritage. This is why the western part of the Old North falls from the historical record of Northumbria. There is no other information about this Ailguin dynasty other than the genealogy. Through a rigorous analysis of place name evidence, later ecclesiastical boundaries and other evidence Pythian-Adams characterises the next two centuries as “Anglo-Celtic” in nature.

We do however know that Bede wrote Whithorn “has lately become an episcopal see” in 731. This new Diocese of Whithorn illustrates Northumbria must have wielded some power in parts of the west from 731 until the last recorded Bishop Heathored of Whithorn in roughly 833. The interesting thing here is that if we extrapolate the date at which the last recorded descendant of Ecgfrith was likely to rule the area (culminating in the 6th generation Oslaph), assuming a floruit of 25 years then we get: 685 + (25 x 6) = 835 which is extremely close to the date of 833. This indicates that something significant happened at this time, possibly installation of a new ruling elite. If we do the same calculation but assume a floruit of 30 years we get: 685 + (30 x 6) = 865. This is a significant date in the history of power dynamics in medieval Britain when a new destabilising actor entered the fray.

The next major shift in power occurred in the 9th century with the arrival of the Norse and Danish raiders. The “Great Heathen Army” landed in Britain in 865. Ivar the Boneless conquered York the next year in 866. This threw Northumbria into disarray and substantially weakened them. The Danes established the Kingdom of York in the territory that roughly corresponds with Deira. The other powers in the Old North didn’t escape either. Strathclyde was the last remaining British Kingdom in the Old North and was subjected to a four month long siege by a different Scandinavian army which resulted in the destruction of their capital; the death of King Arthgal ap Dyfnwal and many of its citizens enslaved. The Chronicle of John of Worcester recounting later events in the Norman period said this “After this the king went into Northumbria, and restored the city which is called in the British tongue Cairleu, and in Latin Lugubalia, and built a castle there; for this city, like some others in that quarter, had been laid in ruins by the heathen Danes two hundred years before, and had been uninhabited up to this time.” Perhaps this was the incident that brought Ecgfrith’s dynasty in Lugubalia to an end.

This chaos lead to the new King of Strathclyde Rhun ap Arthgal establishing a new capital in Govan. The destruction of Northumbria left a power vacuum in the western parts of the Old North and it is at this time that Strathclyde underwent a huge expansion. This expansion stretched all the way southwards including the majority of the former territory of Rheged. This expansion beyond the Clyde lead to renaming as the Kingdom of Cumbria deriving from the same root as the modern Cymru, the Brythonic “combrogos” meaning “fellow countryman”. This rapid expansion into the former territory of Rheged is explained by Pythian-Adams not as a population replacement but as an elite replacement. The common folk of the region were still mostly of British stock and the ruling class were themselves “Anglo-Celtic”. He goes on to speculate referring to the recurrence of familiar names like “Rhun” and “Owain” in the genealogy of the kings of this time that "The possibility that descendants of the erstwhile British royal line of Rheged could have married into the Strathclyde dynasty and may thus have brought with them a claim to the Cumbrian plain cannot be ruled out."

The details of this expansion are scant but there are clues to this new kingdoms southern boundary. In the Life of St Cathroe, the saint travelled through the Cumbrian kingdom to “the boundary of the lands of the Cumbrians and the Northmen” at “usque Loidam civitatem” which is modern day Leeds. One interesting place name that could confirm this new southern boundary is Pen-y- Ghent in the Yorkshire Dales meaning “hill of the pagan foreigners or Vikings” according to Andrew Breeze. This Cumbric etymology indicates the Cumbrian elite regarded this area as a frontier zone. Most scholars regard this as too far south however. A more likely frontier zone oft cited by later Scottish sources was the Duddon River to Rey Cross line which corresponds with the boundary of England in the Domesday Book. The Rey Cross on Stainmore in the Pennines also marked the spot where the last Norse King of York Eric Bloodaxe was slain whilst he was fleeing.

This Kingdom of Cumbria became a signifiant power alongside the other kingdoms of the time. William of Malmesbury and other chroniclers record a meeting of Kings in 927 at Eamont in Cumbria, possibly at Mayburgh Henge. Alongside Athelstan King of England, Constantine II King of Scotland, Hywel Dda King of Wales was Owain King of Cumbrians. They agreed to form an alliance against the Viking threat.

This alliance was a catastrophic failure as in 937 Owain and Constantine allied with the Viking King Olaf Guthfrithson and fought the Battle of Brunanburh against Athelstan. Athelstan was victorious and Owain was probably slain in battle. His grave lies not far from Eamont at a churchyard in Penrith. It is an impressive monument known as the Giants Grave said to be the resting place of a giant called Sir Owain Caesarius who hunted boar in the nearby Inglewood. It shows the influence of Norse settlers in the region with it’s Hogback Stones. The even more impressive Govan sarcophagus gives us an idea what some amateur archaeologists may have discovered when uncovering the grave in the 16th century to find “the great long shank bones of a man, and a broad sword” verifying the local legend of the giant Owain.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Brunanburh the new King of Scotland Malcolm allied himself with the new King of England Edmund. It is also thought the new King of Cumbria Dyfnwal ab Owain remained allied to the Vikings who heavily settled his land. In 945 Edmund invaded and ravaged Cumberland, blinded Dyfnwal’s sons and gave the Kingdom to Malcolm.

While this battle didn’t mark the end of the Kingdom its power gradually waned until it became the Principality of Cumberland within the Kingdom of Scotland. The region still retained its uniquely “Anglo-Celtic” character for centuries, it is thought the Cumbric language survived until the 12th or 13th century. There are mid eleventh century landowners recorded with Cumbric names such as “Moryn Lord of Cardew and Cumdivock” near Carlisle and “Eliffer Lord of Penrith”. Upon visiting Carlisle in the 12th century to inspect its impressive Roman ruins William of Malmesbury also encountered this strange caste of Anglos that called themselves “Cumbri”.

Many romantic tales survive recounting the exploits of the ancient Kings. According to one local legend “Dunmail” was attacked by Edmund and Malcolm in a Lake District valley between Grasmere and Thirlmere and was killed in the battle. He was buried under a large stone cairn known as Dunmail Raise. Some of his warriors escaped with his crown and cast it into the tarn beneath Helvellyn (Cumbric for “Yellow Mountain”). Each year the warriors retrieve the crown and carry it down to the cairn on Dunmail Raise. Striking the cairn with their spears a voice replies “Not yet, not yet; wait awhile, my warriors.”

The lakeland bard William Wordsworth reincarnated the spirit of Taliesin in his poem “The Waggoner”:

Read Part Two for a speculative theory about the survival of the Rheged dynasty through a rogue band of Pirate Princes.

Notes on Ecgfriths Matrilineal Descent:

Careful analysis of the offspring of Oswy reveals the prevailing direction Rheged went in for the next two centuries. Oswy actually had three wives during his lifetime and unravelling the complicated sequence of events makes identifying the mother of each child difficult. The first of Oswy’s wives was an Irish Princess called Fin. They had a son called Aldfrith but he was considered an illegitimate child by the Northumbrian church and so was ignored in the line of succession until Oswy’s legitimate sons were all dead. In roughly 635 Oswy married Rhienmellt after the Battle of Heavenfield. This marriage is confirmed in the Historia Brittonum and the Durham Liber Vitae however Bede does not mention Rhienmellt as he is a well known opponent of British influence, a sentiment which is seen throughout his writings. The next marriage of Oswy was to Eanfled daughter of Edwin, this is recorded in the Historia Brittonum, Durham Liber Vitae and Bede. The only dating information for this marriage we have comes from a story in Bede (EH Book 3, Chapter 15). The marriage happened at some point after 642 when Oswy became King (EH Book 3, Chapter 14) and before 651 when Bishop Aidan died (EH Book 5, Chapter 24). Offspring born before 642 can therefore be deduced as Rhienmellt’s whereas offspring born after 651 can be deduced as Eanfled’s.

Starting with the oldest of Oswy’s recorded legitimate children we have Alhfrith. We know Alhfrith married Cyneburh before 653 (EH Book 3 Chapter 21 & Book 5 Chapter 24). Therefore if he was born to Eanfled, the oldest he could have theoretically have been at his wedding was 9. This would be an abnormally young age therefore we can conclude he is the son of Rhienmellt. He also can’t have been born until a year after Oswy’s marriage to Rhienmellt at the earliest making him about 16 years old at his wedding which is more realistic. We can therefore assign him an approximate year of birth 636. Next we have Oswy’s daughter Alhflaed, who is much the same case. We know she married in 653 or shortly afterwards (EH Book 3 Chapter 21 & Book 5 Chapter 24) therefore is also likely daughter of Rhienmellt and will assign her a year of birth a few years after Alhfrith so 638. Next we have Oswy’s son Ecgfrith who is the critical part concerning Rheged. We know he died in 685 at the age of 40 (EH Book 4 Chapter 26) therefore we have the exact year of birth 645. As this lies between between the range of 642 to 651 we cannot be certain who his mother is. We will discuss this in greater detail shortly. Next oldest is Oswy’s daughter Aelfflaed for whom we are given the exact year of birth as one year before Penda’s death so 654 (EH Book 3 Chapter 24 & Book 5 Chapter 24). This means she is definitely Eanfled’s daughter. Oswy’s next daughter was Osthryth who we know was married at some time shortly before the Battle of Trent 679 (EH Book 4, Chapter 21 & Book 5 Chapter 24). This rough date for her marriage would make her an unusually old bride to be Rhienmellt’s daughter and therefore is most likely Eanfled’s daughter, probably born around 659 or earlier. Lastly we have Oswy’s youngest son Aelfwine, for whom we know died at the Battle of Trent in 679 at the age of eighteen years old (EH Book 4, Chapter 21 & Book 5 Chapter 24). This gives us the exact year of birth 661 and the conclusion that Eanfled is his mother as well.

To summarise we have: Alhfrith in 636, Alhflaed in 638, Ecgfrith in 645, Aelfflaed in 654, Osthryth in 659 and Aelfwine in 661. As we shall outline in the following section the fate of Rheged was determined by Ecgfrith. It is critical therefore that we ascertain his birth mother. Most scholars assume he is son of Eanfled mainly due to the parroting of opinion that has become received wisdom. I will present evidence suggestive of the contrary which would possibly solve a few mysteries.

The first thing to note is that if we divide the children into batches by mother we have Rhienmellt’s known batch from 636 to 638 and we have Eanfled’s known batch from 654 to 661. Ecgfrith is closer to Rhienmellt’s conservatively estimated batch at 7 years separation than he is to Eanfled’s at 9 years. This is far from conclusive however as he seems distinct from both groups. Eanfled was born in 626 (EH Book 2 Chapter 9) and therefore had her first known child at age 28 and her last known child at age 35. She hypothetically would have had Ecgfrith at age 19. We have no way to accurately date Rhienmellt’s year of birth but assuming Ecgfrith was born at the tail end of her fertility age 35 this would make her first child at age 26. When reproducing it is more common to have most of your children within in a short space of time at a younger age and have an anomalous child years later than the reverse. It is unlikely Eanfled had her first child at age 19 waited 9 years and then had 4 more in quick succession. It is likely however that Rheinmellt had two children in quick succession whilst young then had a rogue unexpected child 7 years later at the end of her fertility window. The infamous “accident” child. This biological pattern makes it more likely Rhienmellt is Ecgfrith’s mother. We also know that older women have a much higher risk of dying in child labour. If Rhienmellt died birthing Ecgfrith or simply was at the end of her fertility it would explain why Oswy was seeking another wife some years later with whom he had another batch of children clustered around the same time.

Careful analysis of the chronology and content of Eanfled’s life as presented in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History can give us some further clues as to the date of her marriage with Oswy. The structure of Bede’s writing is in a generally chronological order. In Book 4, Chapter 1 to Chapter 13 gives an account of Oswy’s predecessor Oswald’s life. Chapter 14 opens with Oswy becoming King in 642 after Oswald’s death. It goes on to give a chronological account of the major events in Oswy’s early reign. It reports that on the 10th of October 644 Bishop Paulinus died. Archbishop Honorius of Kent appoints a replacement. There is no mention made of any new marriage to Eanfled. It them goes on to recount events in 651 such as Bishop Aidan’s death.

Chapter 15 is an anecdote recalling a miracle performed during Aidan’s life. A priest called Utta utilised Aidan’s sage advice when he was sent by the already King Oswy to Kent to bring back the exiled Princess Eanfled for him to marry. This is how we know the marriage occurred before Aidan died in 651 and after Oswy was crowned in 642. Chapters 16, 17, 18, 19 & 20 go off on a tangent about other topics not relevant to us. When the chronology of Oswy’s life is resumed in Chapter 21 it starts again from the year 653 and goes on from there. As the placement of Chapter 15, recounting Eanfled’s marriage, occurs between Chapter 14 which recounts events up to October 644 and Aidan’s death in 651, it would suggests the Aidan-Eanfled marriage anecdote occurred after October 644. If Eanfled’s marriage had occurred before October 644, a note of such a major event would have been made in Chapter 14. But as it wasn’t noted we can assume the marriage happened between October 644 and Aidan’s death in 651. This makes Ecgfrith’s birth in 645 to Eanfled extremely unlikely.

To confirm this loose chronological logic we can look at more direct evidence from the events from Eanfled’s life. Bede EH Book 2 Chapter 9 tells us that when King of Northumbria Edwin son of Aelle arranged his marriage to Queen Ethelburh of Kent, he agreed with her brother King Eadbald of Kent that he would convert to Christianity. When Ethelburh arrived she brought Paulinus with her who became the first Bishop in Northumbria. The next year after their marriage in 626 Eanfled was born and baptised by Paulinus. Edwin was baptised by Paulinus the next year, this is the same event that Rhun ap Urien is said to have participated in elsewhere.

Book 2 Chapter 20 tells us that after Edwin was killed by Cadwallon in 633 Paulinus escorted the Queen Ethelburh, Princess Eanfled and Edwins sons to the Kingdom of Kent:

“without any prospect of safety except in flight, Paulinus, taking with him Queen Ethelburh… returned into Kent by sea, and was honourably received by the Archbishop Honorius and King Eadbald”

“having with him Eanfled, the daughter; and Wuscfrea, the son of Edwin, as also Iffi, the son of Osfrid, his son, whom afterwards the mother, for fear of Eadbald and Oswald, sent over into France to be bred up by King Dagobert”

Significantly Queen Ethelburh didn’t trust her brother King Eadbald of Kent or the new King of Northumbria Oswald who was from a rival dynasty. Therefore she sent Edwin’s sons away to France in order to keep them safe from harm but kept her daughter Eanfled with her in Kent. Given her demonstrably strong protective feelings about her children, it is impossible she would agree to a marriage of her daughter to the heir of Oswald whom she didn’t trust as explicitly stated by Bede. Therefore it is only possible that such a marriage would be agreed after her death when she is no longer there to block it. Queen Ethelburh’s death is recorded as 647 by the “Kentish Royal Legend” manuscripts. This date falls perfectly between our constraining dates of after 642 but before 651. The Aidan-Eanfled marriage anecdote in Book 4 Chapter 15 that describes Eanfled being transported from Kent to Northumbria makes no mention of Paulinus. Paulinus was involved in every other aspect of her life especially relating to negotiations with Northumbria. The fact he isn’t mentioned could indicate he was dead at this stage which aligns with our suspected chronology as previously outlined meaning the Chapter 15 marriage anecdote was purposefully placed after Paulinus’ death in 644.

If Rheinmellt gave birth to Ecgfrith in 645 as an older woman and did succumb to death due to complications or cease to be fertile after this marriage, it would explain why Oswy was seeking a new wife a few years later. It is for all these stated reasons that the most likely date for Oswy’s marriage to Eanfled is 648 and therefore Rheinmellt is Ecgfriths mother.

Notes on Celtic Christian Ecgfrith poor relations with Romanist Christian Eanfled & Wilfred:

The Synod of Whitby was a meeting organised by King Oswy to determine if the Northumbrian church would follow the Romanist or the Celtic tradition. Eanfled was a well known Romanist advocate and she supported Wilfrid at the synod:

“Archbishop Paulinus, as has been said above, kept the true and Catholic Easter, with all those that he could persuade to adopt the right way. Queen Eanfleda and her followers also observed the same as she had seen practiced in Kent, having with her a Kentish priest that followed the Catholic mode, whose name was Romanus. ” - (Bede EH Book 3 Chapter 25)

Wheras Ecgfrith was a known supporter of the Celtic tradition, he expelled Wilfrid and installed his own Bishops Eata, Eadhaed and Bosa who were all Celtic supporters at the Synod of Whitby or had been trained by Celtic supporters.

“The same year a dissension broke out between King Egfrid and the most reverend prelate, Wilfrid, who was driven from his see, and two bishops substituted in his stead, to preside over the nation of the Northumbrians, namely, Bosa, to preside over the nation of the Deiri; and Eata over that of the Bernicians, the former having his see in the city of York, the latter in the church of Hagulstad, or else Lindisfarne; both of them promoted to the episcopal dignity from a society of monks.” - (Bede EH Book 4, Chapter 12)

These radically opposing views make it unlikely that Ecgfrith was the offspring off Eanfled and was probably the son of Rheinmellt who also followed the Celtic tradition. This is also why Ecgfrith based his Queen Iurminburh in Carlisle to raise his heir Oslac.

Notes on Ecgfriths descent in Historia Brittonum:

The Historia Brittonum relays the genealogies of the early Kings of Deira and Bernicia. The passage regarding the Kings of Bernicia ceases at Ecgfrith upon his death at the hands of his cousin Pictish King Bridei. After this there is a sentence that places special significance upon the marriages of Oswy, telling us he had two wives: Rhienmellt daughter of Rhun of Rheged and Eanfled daughter of Edwin of Deira. The text then moves on to another subject. It seems emphasis is being placed upon the pedigree of Ecgfrith from a British perspective, which would be understandable if Rhienmellt was his mother and Ecgfrith inherited the Kingdom of Rheged. He seems to have inherited Bernicia and Deira through his father and Rheged through his mother, making him the personification of peaceful unity in the North. After covering other subjects the historia returns to northern affairs when it relays rule of early Deira. The death of Edwin followed by the later rule of Oswy. The Historia again places special significance on the descendants of Oswy. It relates that Ecgfrith had a son called Oslach etc. culminating in Oslaf. This line of Ecgfriths descendants doesn’t appear in any other sources and it appears they played no part in the rule of Deira or Bernicia. It makes perfect sense then as Phythian-Adams and others (Dumville, Jackson) suggest that the Britons were interested in preserving this pedigree as they were Anglo-Celtic Sub Kings descended from Rhienmellt ruling the quasi-independent West from Carlisle. The significance of starting this lineage at Oswy is his marriage to Rhienmellt from whom rule of Rheged is derived from this British perspective. It is also significant that this genealogy in unknown elsewhere, members of which played no part in affairs of Deira and Bernicia. Ecgfrith’s British epithet Ailguin or “Fair Brow” suggests a good relationship with the Britons. He could only have sired legitimate heirs through Iurminburh. Iurminburh was safe in the traditionally Romano-British city of Lugubalia.

In the Historia Bittonum it says Ecgfrith is Bridei ap Belis maternal cousin. This doesn’t rule out Eanfled or Rheinmellt unfortunately as we do not know who Bridei’s mother was. Edwin isn’t recorded as having any other available daughters despite having a well recorded genealogy, whereas the descendants and life of Rhoath is poorly recorded leaving room for other daughters to marry Beli. Intermarriages between Rheged and Strathlyde seem more likely as the two Kingdoms seemed relatively peaceful in later centuries when Strathclyde usurped overlordship from Northumbria. Also it is possible Beli died fighting Edwin in 633 making it unlikely he would be married to one of Edwin’s daughters, although this claim in unsourced.