Urien of Catraeth?

Taliesin's poem "The Battle of Gwen Ystrad" and the greater context of Urien's victories.

One of the first praise-poems to Urien appearing in The Book of Taliesin, commonly referred to as “The Battle of Gwen Ystrad”, heavily associates Urien with Catraeth. Catraeth is best known for the battle that bears it’s name, with that battle being the subject of the well-known poem Y Gododdin. I have lightly touched on John Koch’s theories that Catraeth was in fact not a battle of the Gododdin and the Angles, but instead a mixed force, with a coalition of exiled Coeling princes, the Gododdin, Alt Clut, the Picts, and Angle allies on one side, with Urien of Rheged, Guallauc of Elmet, and their own Angle allies opposing them. This interpretation challenges a number of previously held notions, not just the contenders in battle, but the sphere of influence and power that the Angles maintained at the time, arguably giving them a much smaller slice of the North at this time. When looked at in the context of the events of the 590s, the constant internecine warfare of the waning Brythonic kingdoms of the Hen Ogledd (Old North) would have made the Britons hard pressed to stage an attack upon the kingdoms of the Angles post-Aethefrith. Taking this with internal evidence of the presence of certain historical figures gives us a fairly strong case for the battle taking place in the 580s before the Angles had truly solidified their strangle-hold on the North. The poem “The Battle of Gwen Ystrad” may actually be the battle of Catraeth seen from Urien’s side. Let’s take a stanza-by-stanza look at the Poem.

”The warriors of Catraeth rose with the day,
Surrounding the Wledig, a tireless provider of cattle.
Urien himself, his fame unblemished,
Shared power over kings and demanded tribute.
Fierce in battle, open-handed, a baptized lord without shame.”

Taliesin opens with Urien’s men at Catraeth, generally accepted to have been Catterick in North Yorkshire, with Urien likely occupying the old Roman fort of Cataractonium, probably part of the Coeling reoccupation of the Roman fortresses on the way to Hadrian’s wall (as well as the wall itself).¹ Urien is here called Wledig, a term with a faded meaning, but may be equivalent to an Over-King or High-King, someone who commands other lords, and is usually reserved for great leaders, notable Arthur and Magnus Maximus. Urien is already famous and powerful, other kings give him tribute, he is a fierce Christian warlord.

The men of Prydyn marched in war-hosts,
To Gwen Ystrad, a battlefield of constant contention.
No refuge was found in field or forest
For the people seeking shelter from your coming.
Their shout was like a crashing wave over the land.

The men of Prydyn are likely not Urien’s men, with Prydyn’s meaning shifting from name of the entire island of Britain, to meaning a more localized further north context, possible indicating territories north of the Roman walls. No matter where the try to hide, there is no shelter from Urien’s host.

I saw noble warriors dressed for war,
And after the morning’s feast, torn bodies.
I saw a terrible clash where borders meet—endless.
Bright blood surged, pouring in crimson flood,
In defense of Gwen Ystrad—you could witness it:

A Bloody battle at the borders of a kingdom.

Grief, and men heaped in the ashen earth.
At the ford's threshold I saw bloody men,
Laying their swords at the grey-haired king’s feet
They were one band, gone to destruction,
Hands crossed, pierced, on the gravel of the ford.

The defeated warriors lay their swords in defeat at the victorious Urien’s feet. Though they were united in their purpose, Urien still destroyed them. The interpretation here of Urien as a “grey-haired king” is notable, as this is a testament to Urien’s long reign. In 580 Urien would have been around 60 years old, and we know in the prior decade his son Owain was old enough to act as his Penteulu, speaking with the kings authority to Fflamddwyn before the Battle of Argoed Llwyfain. Urien’s twin sister Efyrddyl was said to have married Eliffer Gosgorddfawr of Ebrauc, making Urien the maternal uncle of the sons of Eliffer, some of which seem to have fought on the side of the Gododdin against their uncle. Eliffer’s floruit of 520-550 would establish that Urien and his sister had to have been born either before, or around the beginning of Eliffer’s floruit, with Efyddyl being a much younger wife.

They fell in confusion, in a rising wave,
Weak warriors who lost even the hair from their heads.
I saw tormented men crying out,
Their garments soaked in gore.
Relentless, they fought with desperate haste.

Protector of Rheged, no retreat was joined.
Hear the song—my passion burns when I remember.
I saw heroes settle around Urien,
When the foe fell at Llech Wen.

A further testament to the slaughter induced by Urien.

With sharpened blades at Galystem.
Spear-men stood firm, even in crisis.
The battle roared, and joy fled like golden mead.

Urien’s men do not waver, and as the mead is gone too soon, so is joy when battle commences.

And though I grow old,
And death must claim me,
I shall not lie easy—
If I do not praise Urien.

Taliesin closes with a refrain common with the poems to Urien.

This is, of course, not the only piece of evidence linking Urien to Catraeth, and gleaning much historicity from battle poems such as this is difficult of course, as much of the imagery is heroic and battle-centric in nature, it’s purpose of course is not to preserve history, but instead to praise Urien, but we can still establish a few things. Urien and his men rode out to meet a force of Prydyn’s men, likely the coalition of warriors that formed the host of the Gododdin, they rode out from Catraeth, and they slaughtered the enemy. Catraeth itself is outside of what territory Rheged is generally assumed to have controlled. Following the death of Eliffer (likely in battle against either Ida of Bernicia at the end of his supposed seven year struggle to solidify power, or alternatively in a dynastic dispute against Eliffer’s own brother Ceidio²) Urien and Guallauc seem to have divided some of Eliffer’s territory of Ebrauc, with Eliffer’s sons either as wards or exiles, leading to a decade long conflict, starting with the Battle of Arfderydd, an attack led by the sons of Eliffer against Ceidio’s son Gwenddoleu³, Urien’s earlier battle of Argoed Llwyfain may commemorate a component of that battle, with Urien meeting the Angle allies of Eliffer’s sons in battle while Gwenddoleu fought Peredur and Gwrgi.

This is why looking at the greater context of what we have, instead of just focusing on a single figure is so important. By taking the Annales Cambriae’s entries, the Triads, Y Gododdin, and Taliesin’s poems to Guallauc and Urien, we can begin to paint a bigger picture than was originally possible, by looking for consistent points and relations across all of these sources.

Urien features in my upcoming book “Auroch’s Illustrated Guide to the Hen Ogledd” which will feature figures spanning 300 years, from the rise of the Post-Roman Brythonic Kingdoms, to their ultimate collapse, and evolution. All of the Coeling with feature, as well as important figures from Alt Clut, the Gododdin, and the Gaels of Dal Riata, Ceredig Wledig, Cynon ap Clydno, and Dyfnwal Hen, Men of the Gododdin, like Letan, Gerguan and Medrawt, Gabran, Aedan, Artuir, all the way to Bridei.

1. https://www.arthwys.com/p/ken-darks-brigantian-high-kingship article detailed the Brigantian high-kingship and it’s relation to the Coeling, and the reoccupation of fortified places in along Hadrian’s wall.

2. https://www.arthwys.com/p/pa-gur Article outlining the possibility that Eliffer, or Llacheu as he is later remembered fell against Ceidio, or Cei as he may be later known.

3. https://www.arthwys.com/p/warlords-of-the-britons-gwenddoleu Article looking at Gwenddoleu.