Dál Riata and the Tangles of Politics.

While working on the new book and working out which figures I was going to include I came across some interesting possibilities for how interconnected Dál Riata was with their Brythonic neighbors. Within the new book “Auroch’s Illustrated Guide to the Hen Ogledd” I wanted to include not just important men from the period, but women and places as well. There is unfortunately a dearth of information on most of the women of the Hen Ogledd, with most information being gleaned from local tradition, but in the case of Maithgemma, daughter of Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata, the small bit of information is quite illuminating on the state of early Dál Riata.

Links between the British and Irish during the 5th and 6th century are relatively common, with many marriages being arranged both directions. Arthwys ap Mar’s wife Cywair was supposedly an Irish princess, and the Irish invasions of Dyfed are quite well known. Dál Riata began to stretch it’s influence into modern Scotland during the late 5th century, with it’s foothold generally held to have been established by Fergus Mor mac Eirc. Part of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work Historia Regum Britanniae remembers and chronologically out of place incident involving Morvidus, a figure likely based on the Coeling king of Ebrauc in the late 5th century Mor ap Ceneu, in which Morvidus is slain by a monster from the Irish sea. This may be a folk memory of Fergus establishing his foothold in Britain. The enmity between Dal Riata and the Britons did not seemingly last long however. Fergus’ grandson Gabrán is given in De Situ Brenchaniac as one of the many kings married to daughters of Brychan Brycheiniog. While the chronology is not quite right for Gabrán to be a contemporary of a daughter of Brychan, as with many of the claimed marriages, there is a somewhat easier to iron out chronology based on the fact that Brychan himself had a son with the same name, who is remembered as Brychan of Mannan/Mannia/Manaw (various manuscripts list it differently). Skene suggested that there may have been a northern Brycheiniog, somewhere around the territory of Manaw Gododdin, and remembered in the modern placename Brechin, Forfarshire (though it is considerably more north than what it traditionally considered Manaw Gododdin). Whether this northern Brychan was an actual son of Brychan Brycheiniog, or just another man lumped into Brychan’s family, it would make more sense for this northern Brychan to be the father of Gabrán’s wife, Lluan. There has been doubt shed on the veracity of the entries in Plant Brychan and the works related to it, with many pointing out a possible progression and clarification over time adding information to match what scribes thought the manuscripts were trying to say, thus eventually relating the ‘Haidani’ seen in the earliest versions with Áedán falsely. This is of course a possibility, but it also eschews the very logical step that the copyists adding information may have been privy to documents and traditions that are now lost. The first Brychan, is generally held to have been Irish himself, though he seems to have been quickly assimilated, taking Brythonic wives, and as it stands there is little evidence of an Irish origin. Regardless of whether either theory is correct, I do think this holds a genuine tradition that Gabrán married a Brythonic princess. Whether she was Lluan ferch Brychan we cannot say, but with the persistence of Dál Riata as a political entity carving territory from the fearsome Picts, as well as being allowed to exist by the powerful Brythonic kingdoms to the south it makes a degree of sense that there may have been some political protection afforded to Dál Riata by such a marriage.

Illustration of Maithgemma from my upcoming book.

Áedán’s daughter Maithgemma gives further evidence to this. She is said to be the niece of an unnamed Brythonic king by St. Laserian, with her mother theorized to be a sister of the king of Alt Clut. As I have demonstrated before, there seems to have been a High-Kingship centered around Alt Clut, with descendants of Dyfnwal Hen heavily woven into the kingships of both the Picts and Gododdin. This High-Kingship or coalition of sorts acted as a rival to that of their southern neighbors the Coeling, remembered in Y Gododdin as “"In hosts, in hordes, they fought for the land, With Godebawg's sons, savage folk."” Godebawgg being one of Coel Hen’s epithets, meaning ‘Shelterer’ or ‘Protector’ similar to the name Vortipor, a king of Dyfed in the early 6th century. If Áedán had a Brythonic mother himself, Maithgemma would potentially be 3/4 Brythonic. It may be that Áedán’s son Artuir was similarly Brythonic as well, potentially explaining his Brythonic name. Artuir probably ruled the Picts for a short time under the name Gartnait, and as I have demonstrated before descendants of Dyfnwal of Alt Clut also ruled the Picts, and it is possible that a son of half-Pictish princess may have had claim to the high-kingship of the Picts.

Gabrán and Áedán both show up in a corrupted pedigree as a grandson and son of Dyfnwal Hen respectively. This pedigree is highly suspect, as it gives Dyfnwal descent from Maxen Wledic, Magnus Maximus, the usurper emperor of Rome in the late 4th century. There was a common trend of ascribing descent from Magnus to many rulers, and this seems to be an attempt at that. Gabrán and Áedán appearing out of order makes it even more suspect, but may be a genuine recollection of an intermarriage into Dyfnwal’s line, or of them operating as Foederati or a client of Alt Clut during the late 6th century. At some point however, Brythonic sentiment towards the Scoti Kings of Alt Clut changed, and both Gabrán and Áedán carry the epither Wradoc or Bradoc, ‘Traitor’. This change is noted in the triads:

Rhydderch Hael holding Dyrnwyn, a flaming sword, one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain.

And the third Violent Ravaging (was) when Aeddan the Treacherous came to the court of Rhydderch Hael at Alclud; he left neither food nor drink nor beast alive.

The poem Peiryan Vaban similarly records soured relations between Alt Clut and Dál Riata.

Will you not be defended by God against the ancient Irish?
And the way of the Irish exile is a devilish host,
And the Franks and Irish scatter like a flock.
Aedan will come from traversing the wide sea,
And an army from Manaw will come with him
To the islands and along the way of the Irish,
A devilish host, a common struggle against the Irish.

Weeping is not joyful, nor is it best.
Myrddin says: great is the sorrow
For the death of my brothers and Gwenddoleu.
Llywelyn, Gwgawn, best of the generous,
Einion and Rhiwallon, leaders in every battle,
From the encounter of Rhydderch and praiseworthy Aedan—
How swift the truth runs from north to south.
And the maiden will say, when daylight comes,
The woods will be full of warriors and weapons.

This sudden change is quite jarring. Áedán supposedly participated in the Battle of Arfderydd in 573, just before becoming King, falling out with Rhydderch over a ‘lark’s nest’, claimed to be a quarrel started by herdsmen of the respective kings. Áedán supposedly sought refuge with the Coeling prince, Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio, who ruled the territory around Arfderydd, who was possibly a client of Urien of Rheged at the time. Urien’s battle of Argoed Llwyfain is probably a second component of Arfderydd, with Urien fighting a contingent of Angles allied with Rhydderch, Peredur and Gwrgi. This tradition may mark Arfderydd as the turning point that made Áedán a ‘Traitor’. Áedán then fights a number of little attested battles in the 580s and 590s, seemingly unsupported by ether Picts or Britons, raiding Orkney early in that decade, then the Isle of Man. The Battle of Miathi in the mid 590s (probably 595, if Artuir is the Garnait of the Pictish regnal lists) proved disastrous, with his elder sons Artuir and Echoid Find falling in battle there. Áedán was eventually defeated by Aethelfrith of Bernicia at The Battle of Degsastan seemingly unsupported by either the Picts or the Britons. Áedán disappears after this defeat, and later dies in 608 five years after the battle.

Dál Riata continued to exist after Áedán, with the old enmity sown with Alt Clut continuing into the 7th century, with Áedán’s grandson Domnall Brecc taking power in 629. Domnall’s sons seem to represent a continued weaving of Dál Riata into the High-Kingship of the Picts, with two men who seem to be his sons consecutively holding the position in the 650s, just before Bridei ap Beli. Domnall fell in battle against Eugein ap Beli, king of Alt Clut at The Battle of Strathcarron in 642. Domnall’s death may have played a part in paving the way for Eugein’s younger brother Bridei to become King of the Picts. Further relationships and Gaelicising of the Picts happened over the ensuing centuries, leading to a merging of the Kingships of Dál Riata and the Picts, leading to the creation of the Kingdom of Alba under the house of Alpin with Cináed mac Ailpín being king of both kingdoms, and his grandson Domnall mac Causantín being the first ruler to be called ‘rí Alban’.

What we can glean of the intermarriage and relationships held between Dál Riata and Alt Clut during the mid 6th century help strengthen the idea of a second central power in the Hen Ogledd, opposite of the Coeling High-Kingship, sometimes allied with Coeling kings, sometimes antagonistic towards them.