Dux Peredurus?

Vita Merlini, the battle of Arfderydd, and a Hint at Peredur's Status

Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio and his man-eating birds.

The Battle of Arfderydd happened in 573 according to the Annales Cambriae, and involved many figures that will sound familiar to not only those who have followed my work, but to those who are familiar with Arthurian legend as well. Remembered in the Welsh Triads as one of the "Three Futile Battles of the Island of Britain", along with the Battle of Camlann and the Battle of the Trees, it seems a number of armies from different kingdoms participated in the battle.

The only certain combatants that we can glean to have been present were Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio and Myrddin on one side, and Peredur¹ and Gwrgi ab Eliffer on the other. These are referenced in a gloss to the Annales Cambriae for the entry for 573. The battle has been painted before as a battle between the Pagan Gwenddoleu and Christian Peredur, however whether Gwenddoleu actually was a Pagan is up for debate. This is gleaned from a triad mentioning Gwenddoleu’s giant birds, who were said to devour men. Some have speculated that this was an attempt to demonize a Pagan king in a time of predominantly Christian Brythonic kingdoms, however there is little evidence to back up this interpretation. Other sources give us other reasons for the battle, as well as other participants.

The extended list of combatants provides a much larger scope for the battle, with Gwenddoleu allied with Myrddin, and the king of Dál Riata, Áedán mac Gabráin. The other coalition including Peredur and Gwrgi, Rhydderch Hael of Alt Clut, as well as Dunawd ab Pabo, and Cynfelyn ab Arthwys, a cousin and uncle respectively of Peredur, Gwrgi, and Gwenddoleu.

The 17th century antiquary Robert Vaughn gives what may be a traditionally held insight into the cause behind the battle

“It chanced that the shepherds of Rhydderch and Aeddan aforesaied, by the instigation of the Devil, fell out for no other cause than a lark's nest; who, having beaten one another to the efussion of their blood, at last acquainted their lords of the whole strife, and they presently engaged themselves in the quarrel, entering into open hostility with such eagerness and hatred that having mustered their forces and committed some outrages, they appointed a day and place to try the matter by dint of sword; and Aeddan fearing to be too weak to encounter Rhydderch, drew to his side Gwenddoleu the son of Ceidiaw of the tribe of Coel Godeboc, a very powerful prince, and they, joining their forces, met Rhydderch at a place called Arderydd, where upon the first encounter Gwenddoleu was slain, and with him Llywelyn, Gwgawn, Einiawn, and Rhiwallawn, the sons of Morfryn, Merlin caledonius's bretheren; and in the end after a great slaughter on both sides, Rhydderch obtained the victory, and Aeddan fled the country.”

This is a contrast to the gloss in the annals, naming Gwenddoleu, Myrddin, and the sons of Eliffer as the main combatants. This expanded scope still works chronologically, with all of the figures present contemporary. It has been proposed that the ‘Lark’s Nest’ may have been an obscured memory of Caerlaverock, and may have been a dispute over the territory that the 13th century castle was built on. Caerlaverock is adjacent to the territory Gwenddoleu is often said to hold, and sits within modern Dumfries and Galloway, a hotly contested area throughout the 6th century. My friend

p5ych0p0mp

has written a fantastic article outlining a full reevaluation of Arfderydd if you would like to check it out explaining the greater context and geography here, expanding the scope of the battle to include Urien of Rheged, who Gwenddoleu was likely a client of.

The battle seems to have been part of a schism amongst the Coeling, previously a fairly united group of related kings, with a single ‘Overking’ or ‘High-King’ acting in a ‘First-among-equals’ arrangement. You can read more about this ‘High-Kingship’ here.

Gwenddoleu was ultimately slain in the battle, and his advisor or bard (both are attested) Myrddin went mad and fled into the forests of Caledonia where he lived as a wild man. This Myrddin is likely the kernel of history of the Merlin legend. The welsh triads record Gwenddoleu's warband as one of the "Three Faithful Warbands of the Island of Britain" fighting for a fortnight and a month after their lord was killed.

There is another perspective that I have left out that may give us some more information about these figures within this battle.

As I have established many times using Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work Historia Regum Britanniae as the spring point for work on King Arthur is a dubious position. This does not mean that Geoffrey is always wrong, or that Geoffrey is always making things up whole cloth. We must be measured when approaching Geoffrey, and just because some of his work is uncorroborated and dubious does not mean that all of it is. While it’s authorship was once doubted, the Vita Merlini, a poem in Latin giving a version of the tale of Merlin’s madness, is now generally accepted to have been penned by Geoffrey himself. While Geoffrey often plays willy-nilly with the truth, Vita Merlini contains some interesting possibilities. Within the poem he gives an alternative account of a battle he does not name, but is clearly inspired by Arfderydd, a 6th century battle known from the Annales Cambriae and the triads. Geoffrey gives us this account of the battle:

Well then, after many years had passed under many kings,
Merlin the Briton was held famous in the world.
He was a king and prophet; to the proud people of the South Welsh
he gave laws, and to the chieftains he prophesied the future.
Meanwhile it happened that a strife arose
between several of the chiefs of the kingdom,
and throughout the cities they wasted the innocent people with fierce war.
Peredur, king of the North Welsh, waged war
on Gwenddoleu, who ruled the realm of Scotland;
and already the day fixed for the battle was at hand,
and the leaders were ready in the field, and the troops were fighting,
falling on both sides in a miserable slaughter.
Merlin had come to the war with Peredur
and so had Rhydderch, king of the Cumbrians, both savage men.
They slew the opposing enemy with their hateful swords,
and three brothers of the prince who had followed him through his wars,
always fighting, cut down and broke the battle lines.
Thence they rushed fiercely through the crowded ranks with such an attack that they soon fell killed.
At this sight, Merlin, you grieved and poured out sad complaints
throughout the army, and cried out in these words,
“Could injurious fate be so harmful as to take from me so many and such great companions,
whom recently so many kings and so many remote kingdoms feared?
O dubious lot of mankind! O death ever near,
which has them always in its power, and strikes its hidden goad
and drives out the wretched life from the body!
O glorious youths, who now will stand by my side in arms,
and with me will repel the chieftains coming to harm me,
and the hosts rushing in upon me?
Bold young men your audacity
has taken from you your pleasant years and pleasant youth!
You who so recently were rushing in arms through the troops,
cutting down on every side those who resisted you,
now are beating the ground and are red with red blood!”
So among the hosts he lamented with flowing tears,
and mourned for the men, and the savage battle was unceasing.
The lines rushed together, enemies were slain by enemies,
blood flowed everywhere, and people died on both sides.
But at length the Britons assembled their troops from all quarters
and all together rushing in arms
they fell upon the Scots and wounded them and cut them down,
nor did they rest until the hostile battalions turned their backs
and fled through unfrequented ways.

Here we see a few key differences from other narratives about many of these figures, he includes many of the figures previously attested but excludes others. Peredur, Myrddin, Gwenddoleu, and Rhydderch are present, while Áedán, Gwrgi, Dunawd, and Cynfelyn are absent.