Warlords of the Britons: Gwenddoleu ap Ceidio
The Bull Protector of Britain.
When speaking of the many warlords and kings of the Brythonic Heroic Age, historicity is often difficult to prove. Many figures only appear in pedigrees and will occasionally have poetic references to back them. This leads to some scholars to conclude that the pedigrees are of no actual worth and are wholly fabricated, and likely do nothing to serve the historical record. As I have pointed out before there are a few things working in favor of the pedigrees, with differences that only make sense when considering the context of a lost regnal list or chronicle. The Arthgallo narrative found in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae is one shining example. If Geoffrey was working from a pedigree one would expect it to follow the pedigree for Arthgallo (Arthwys) directly, showing Morvidus (Mar), Arthgallo (Arthwys), Eliffer (Elidurus), Peredurus and Engenius (Peredur and Gwrgi) directly. This is not the case, and Geoffrey interpolates Gorbonianus into the narrative between Morvidus and Arthgallo. This gives a sense of something missing. If this was indeed taken from the pedigree, why the interpolation? Small inconsistencies like this add up and help bolster the historical value of the pedigrees. Today however, we are instead talking about a figure that doesn’t only appear in the pedigrees. Gwenddoleu appears not only in the pedigrees, but also in the Annales Cambriae, poetry, the triads, and other legendary tradition. This will be a hybrid of the style of my older and newer articles in this series, with reconstructions of the figures1, as well as an analysis of the sources for the figure seen here.
Reconstruction
Gwenddoleu is seen here wearing a simple tunic, pants and boots, the boots similar to earlier roman Calcei. He wears a belt adorned with a high-status imported bucked of Frankish style, and a penannular brooch common to the period. His war gear seen below features a derivative of late-roman helmets, high status maille armour, a spear based on British finds, and a migration era spatha with a simple hilt with Ivory fittings. Such high-status armour would have been prized, and would have likely been used and reused for a handful of generations. He wears gilded prick spurs mentioned in the poetry of his distant cousin Llywarch Hen.
On to the original sources we have mentioned Gwenddoleu. Presented below without comment.
Bonedd Gwŷr y Gogledd
Gwendoleu & Nud & Chof meibyon Keidyaw m. Arthwys m. Mar m. Keneu m. Coel
Annales Cambriae
The battle of Arfderydd between the sons of Eliffer and Gwenddolau son of Ceidio; in which battle Gwenddolau fell; Merlin went mad
Triads
Three Bull-Protectors of the Island of Britain:
Cynfawr Host-Protector, son of Cynwyd Cynwydion,
and Gwenddolau son of Ceidiaw,
and Urien son of Cynfarch.
Three Faithful War-Bands of the Island of Britain:
The War-Band of Cadwallawn, when they were fettered;
and the War-Band of Gafran son of Aeddan, at the time of his complete disappearance;
and the War-Band of Gwenddolau son of Ceidiaw at Arfderydd, who continued the battle for a fortnight and a month after their lord was slain;
The number of each one of the War-Bands was twenty-one hundred men.
Three Men who performed the Three Fortunate Assassinations:
Gall son of Dysgyfdawd who slew the Two Birds of Gwenddolau. And they had a yoke of gold on them. Two corpses of the Cymry they ate for their dinner, and two for their supper;
And Ysgafnell son of Dysgyfdawd, who slew Edelfled king of Lloegr;
And Diffydell son of Dysgyfdawd who slew Gwrgi Garwlwyd ('Rough Grey'). That Gwrgi used to make a corpse of one of the Cymry every day, and two on each Saturday so as not to slay on Sunday.
Three Horses who carried the Three Horse-Burdens:
Black Moro, horse of Elidir Mwynfawr, who carried on his back seven and a half people from Penllech in the North to Penllech in Môn. These were the seven people: Elidir Mwynfawr, and Eurgain his wife, daughter of Maelgwn Gwynedd, and Gwyn Good Companion, and Gwyn Good Distributor, and Mynach Naomon his counsellor, and Prydelaw the Cupbearer, his butler, and Silver Staff his servant, and Gelbeinevin his cook, who swam with his two hands to the horse's crupper - and that was the half-person.
Corvan, horse of the sons of Eliffer, bore the second Horse-Burden: he carried on his back Gwrgi and Peredur and Dunawd the Stout and Cynfelyn the Leprous, to look upon the battle-fog of (the host of) Gwenddolau (in) Arfderydd. (And no one overtook him but Dinogad son of Cynan Garwyn, upon Swift Roan, and he won censure and dishonour from then till this day.)
Heith, horse of the sons of Gwerthmwl Wledig, bore the third Horse-Burden: he carried Gweir and Gleis and Archanad up the hill of Maelawr in Ceredigion to avenge their father.
Poetry
Hoianau from the Black Book of Carmarthen, attributed to Myrddin.
I saw Gwenddoleu in the track of the kings,
Collecting booty from every border;
Now indeed he lies still under the brown earth;
The chief of the kings of the north, of greatest generosity.
Afallenneu from the Black Book of Carmarthen, attributed to Myrddin.
After Gwenddoleu no one shall honour me,
No diversions attend me, No fair women visit me.
Though at Arderydd I wore a golden torque
The swan-white woman despises me now.
The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir from the Black Book of Carmarthen, attributed to Myrddin.
I have been in the place where was killed Gwendoleu,
The son of Ceidio, the pillar of songs,
When the ravens screamed over blood.
Dialogue Between Myrddin and his sister, Gwenddydd from the Red Book of Hergest.
As Gwenddoleu was slain in the bloodshed of Arderydd.
Peniarth MS. 60
The Gwyddbwll of Gwnddolef ap Keidio: Gold board, silver [men]; they would play by themselves.
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini
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.
Peirian Faban
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,
When the fierce battle would be fought,
when there would be joyous death, when there would be a broken shoulder,
when there would be heart’s blood before he would be put to flight.
Because of the memory of Gwenddolau and his companions,
woe to me for my death—how slowly it comes.
Englynion y Clyweid
Have you heard what Gwendoleu sings,
while in the valleys?
A tree in another wood is his.
Excerpt from the work of Robert Vaughan.
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 fearign 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.
What to make of all of this?
Our hard historical sources (which I consider the pedigrees and the Annals) give us some certainties, his ancestry, and his death. A scion of Coel’s dynasty that dominated Northern Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, dying in battle against his own cousins in 573 at Arfderydd according to the annals. Peredur and Gwrgi, the sons of Eliffer, Gwenddoleu’s uncle, made war upon him. Other traditions lump other figures into this battle, such as Rhydderch Hael of Alt Clut, and Áedán mac Gabráin of Dál Riata. This death and his ancestry (at least as the son of Ceidio) are consistent through most sources, and are almost certainly genuine. Through placename evidence we can conclude that Gwenddoleu ruled the area surrounding modern Arthuret, with nearby Carwinley being descended from Caer Wenddoleu, Gwenddoleu’s Fortress. This expansion of Coeling territory North of the wall is significant. Coeling territory in the first few generations seemed centered around Hadrian’s wall and the lands immediately south. This expansion during the early 6th century is an oddity. When many kingdoms were on the backfoot, shrinking in territory and fracturing within, the territory of the Coeling was expanding, not only around Carwinley, but also further north around modern Kelso, that was earlier known as the kingdom of Calchfynydd. These kingdoms first appear attached to individuals in the mid to late 6th century, when it is highly unlikely they carved the territory out on their own, especially as Anglian power began gaining a foothold in Northern Britain starting in 547 under Ida of Bernicia. The establishment of these kingdoms likely belongs in the generation preceding them, in the twilight of Arthwys of Ebrauc’s reign. This extension of power hints at the influence of the Brigantian High-Kingship held by Arthwys, Garbanian, Mar, and Coel.
Eliffer, Ceidio, and the Roots of Arfderydd.
A big question that rears it’s head is, why do the sons of Eliffer attack their own Cousin? The answer may lay in a small snippet in later Arthuriana, and a conflict between Gwenddoleu’s father and Eliffer. Both Ceidio and Eliffer are almost certainly sons of Arthwys. Ceidio is always given as a son of Arthwys but Eliffer is given a different pedigree, descending from Gwrwst Ledlum, which would shift Eliffer back a generation. Not only is this chronologically unsatisfactory, it also can be easily explained. In the pedigrees for Alt Clut there is Elidir son of Gwrwst son of Dyfnwal Hen. A copyist may have taken it upon himself to ‘correct’ the ancestry, and assumed that Gwrwst ap Dyfnwal and Gwrwst ap Ceneu were the same person, and thus Elidir Mwynfawr and Eliffer Gosgorddfawr were the same person. In earlier works the two names are seemingly considered completely different, but eventually were conflated. Evidence for this can be seen in my article on Eliffer. The evidence points to Eliffer as a son of Arthwys being the correct interpretation. Ceidio himself may be the historical nugget behind the foster-brother of Arthur Cai Hir, later known as Sir Kay. There is a curious instance where Cai is responsible for the death of Llachau (one of Arthur’s sons). Llachau is possibly a distant memory of Eliffer himself. If this narrative is a folklorised piece of history this may give us a reason behind the battle of Arfderydd/Arthuret. If Cai/Ceidio indeed killed Eliffer/Llacheu, possible in a dispute over who would be high king, this paints Arfderydd in a much more interesting context. Not a petty battle over territory, or a lark’s nest, but a blood feud, and the start of a civil war amongst the Coeling that culminates in the Battle of Catraeth, commemorated in Y Gododdin. My good friend and fellow Hen Ogledd scholar
has surmised that Gwenddoleu and Urien may have been allied, and that Urien’s battle of Argoed Llyfain is in fact another component of the battle of Arfderydd. This begins to give us a broader view of the political sides forming around this period. Gwenddoleu, Urien, and Guallauc of Elmet (all related), and The sons of Eliffer, Peredur, Gwrgi, Madog?2, Cynfelyn, and Dunod (also all related). This civil war directly contributed to Anglian dominance in the North, and no doubt made the emergence of Northumbria possible, with the considerable power formerly held by the Coeling Hegemony fracture. If we are to trust the triads, Gwenddoleu alone was able to bring to bear a host of 2100 men, a massive force for the period, if the other Coeling had similar capabilities the Brigantian High-Kingship would likely be able to bring many times that to war, making them a very difficult opponent for the early Anglian kingdoms, as well as their Brythonic, Pictish, and Dal Riatan neighbors to the north. A fractured Coeling hegemony slowly waned on the periphery, and became mostly3 irrelevant after Catraeth.
We see that Gwenddoleu features heavily in the poetry attributed to Myrddin. From the Myrddin poetry we can see that Myrddin was in service to Gwenddoleu, possibly as a trusted advisor and Bard. He places Gwenddoleu as one of the chief princes of the north, a generous gold-giver and raider, and capable of withstanding raids himself (Thus remembered as one of the ‘Bull Protectors of Britain). Myrddin himself says he wore a high-status ‘Golden Torc’ at Arfderydd. He is included as the owner of one of the magical Thirteen Treasures of Britain, a Gwyddbwll board made of Gold with Silver pieces that could play itself, once again reiterating his power and influence. Robert Vaughan a later writer notes that he was ‘a very powerful prince’.
The most curious reference to Gwenddoleu comes in the triad “Three Men who performed the Three Fortunate Assassinations”
Gall son of Dysgyfdawd who slew the Two Birds of Gwenddolau. And they had a yoke of gold on them. Two corpses of the Cymry they ate for their dinner, and two for their supper;
We see the them of Gold trapping repeated here, once again indicating the richness of Gwenddoleu, but the object of the assassinations is not Gwenddoleu himself, but two monstrous man-eating Birds. This has been interpreted as a holdout of earlier human-sacrifice, with Gwenddoleu as a pagan holdout against his predominantly Christian (possibly pseudo-Christian) cousins. There is unfortunately little evidence to verify these claims, and there may be an alternative interpretation. Owain and the kings of Rheged are often associated with Ravens and are later assigned a medieval Heraldic device featuring Ravens, and in fact, later tradition makes these literal Ravens who attack Arthur’s warriors while Owain and Arthur are playing Gwyddbwll. This could just be folkloric fantasy or a memory of Owain’s warriors being poetically likened to Ravens. This gives the possibility that Gwenddoleu’s birds were actually trusted warlords or part of his Teulu (household troops). This triad does not paint Gwenddoleu in the noble light seen in the Myrddin poetry and may hint at a division of views between the factions of Coeling that is held over into later periods, but just like with the pagan interpretation this is just speculation.
Gwenddoleu is almost universally accepted as a historical person, but even with that acceptance we know almost nothing of his life. We can only estimate when he was born, and guess at his reputation and influence. This is a great example of the mere crumbs we have to work with when it comes to most figures from the Brythonic Heroic Age. Gwenddoleu’s ultimate role helps show us how the downward spiral began for many of the Brythonic Kingdoms, often not falling prey to foreign incursion, but from strings of protracted infighting.
Madog is a figure that appears in Y Gododdin as Madog Elfed or Madog of Elmet. This immediately brings to mind the southeastern Coeling polity of Elmet, though there may have in fact been two Elmets, a northern Elmet in Yorkshire, and a southern Elmet. This Northern may have been where the sons of Eliffer fled after his death. Madog is given a chief place amongst the warriors of Y Gododdin, and seems to be of significant importance. He may in fact be the eldest son of Eliffer, leading the remnants of his father’s warband and his brothers to destruction at Catraeth.
I've always loved the name Madog.