Warlords and Tyrants

“..... a land fertile in tyrants.”

The period in British history immediately following the ending of Roman rule has been variously labelled The Dark Ages, Sub-Roman or Post-Roman Britain, none of which seems to adequately describe the existence of Britain as a successful independent state during the turmoil created by the mass movements of peoples throughout Europe. Roman scribes were ejected along with the officials which has left historians with little or at best vague sources for the period leading to the assumption of a ‘dark age’. The term ‘sub-roman’ implies an inferior state, originally a term coined by archaeologists to define the standard of pottery finds from this time; a more suitable term ‘post-roman’ defines the period following the Roman ejection from this Island prior to Anglo-Saxon domination, from this we can deduce an independent British state in existence from 409 AD – c.596 AD which therefore must have had powerful leaders which, according to Gildas, “BRITAIN has kings, but they are tyrants.”

The lack of sources from this period in British history has left the way open to many authors putting forward their thesis of a conjectured history. Two books focusing on this period have been published recently; Arthur and the Fall of Roman Britain: A Narrative History for Fifth Century Britain by Edwin Pace in October 2008 and Warlords: The Struggle for Power in Post-Roman Britain by Stuart Laycock, April 2009.

Although the world’s bookcases bow under the strain of the myriad of books on the elusive Dux Bellorum, the fascination obsessive and eternal, you may be screaming “no more!”, but new books focusing on the enigmatic post-roman period are always of interest to the Arthurian aficionado. Before we can determine who or what, or if, Arthur was, we must establish the setting and both of these authors delve into the shadowy period with fresh enthusiasm. This being a subjective period owing the limitations of the sources, not all readers will agree with the proposals in these two books.

The Proud Tyrant

Arthur and the Fall of Roman Britain
A Narrative History for Fifth Century Britain
by Edwin Pace

Paperback: 358 pages
Published by Invermark Books (1 Oct 2008)
ISBN-10: 0955420148

From the Back cover:

“An evocative recreation of a vanished world, this is the first genuine narrative history for 5th Century Britain. The author demonstrates that the only plausible explanation for the extant evidence is that a powerful military ruler known as the Dux Bellorum dominated Post-Roman Britain for two decades. Known variously as the ‘Proud Tyrant’, Arthur and Riothmanus, his reign would be a major turning point in British History. A new and controversial narrative history for fifth century Britain. A serious history that places Arthur firmly back in the frame as an historical figure and a major one at that. A compelling story of a nation in crisis.”

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
1. Conflict with Their Cruel Enemies
2. Cavalry by land and Mariners by Sea
3. Left Without a Shepherd
4. The proud Tyrant
5. The Romans Therefore Left the Country
6. Forty Years of Fear
7. They Left Their Cities
8. They Overthrew Their Enemies
9. A Protection to Their Country
10. To Fight in Favour of the Island
11. Kings Were Anointed
12. A Most Extraordinary Plenty
13. A Humble Man
14. Most Kingly
15. By Way of Ocean
16. The Fire of Vengeance
Epilogue
Appendix I – A Chronology for Late Antique Britain
Appendix II – Happy Birthday Gildas!
Appendix III – Historia and Chronicle
Maps
References
Bibliography
Index

Arthur and the Fall of Roman Britain claims to be like no previous book on Post-Roman Britain, aiming to demonstrate that the current image of 'Arthur' as a Dark Age chieftain fighting a last-ditch battle against Saxon invaders is very much a myth. Pace argues that this leader of the British was much earlier than previously suspected, far from being a Dark Age warlord, he continued Roman military and naval strategies to secure Britain, uniting the people in a series of battles in all corners of the island using alliances with various foreign mercenaries to bring about two decades of peace. Pace constructs his thesis on the argument that the earliest sources derive from the same basic fifth century series of events in Britain and Europe.

Pace reconstructs a history of Post-Roman Britain based on the earliest available sources; Gildas, Historia Brittonum and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. Unfortunately none of these can be seen as particularly reliable for re-constructing history, but we have little else; Gildas was delivering a sermon loaded with religious rhetoric; The Historia Brittonum contains much fable and was produced to suit the politics of Gwynedd; the Chronicle was written some time after events in an attempt to provide the Germanic settlers a foundation myth in Britain and legibility to kingship. Personally, I’m not convinced there was an Anglo-Saxon invasion en masse, if at all, furthermore, only one of these sources mentions Arthur by name and only two mention the Battle of Badon; could the site of this battle really have been so far west (Bath?) at such an early date? It is rarely talked off in comparison to the location of the second Battle of Badon.

Unfortunately we do not have much else to construct our Post-Roman histories thereby leaving the path open to conjecture and leaps of faith. This is not meant as criticism of Pace but observed frustrations of the period. This was an exciting time in British history and Pace writes a good book which is essentially an account of Vortigern, generally agreed upon as the Proud Tyrant of Gildas’ rant, which the author proposes as the identity of the Dux Bellorum and constructs a thought-provoking chronology for the legendary Arthur based on this association.

Vortigern is of course infamous for inviting Saxon mercenaries to guard Britain, a practice adopted from the Romans, against Pict and Irish raiders, “wolves into the sheep-fold”. For this reason Vortigern fell from grace whereas Arthur was and is remembered as a hero, the saviour of the Britons.

Pace argues that Vortigern is synonymous with Riothamus both names meaning the same; “great king” or “overlord.” Gildas informs us, albeit it indirectly, that the British leader at Badon was Ambrosius and the Historia Brittonum recounts Badon as one of Arthur’s battles. Therefore we could deduce from the sources that Ambrosius is Arthur, but according to Pace, Ambrosius may have been Arthur’s (Vortigern’s) son, which certainly would require a new chronology and a change in colours, as Ambrosius is generally considered to have followed Vortigern by a generation and they would appear to be from different factions. In the final chapter Pace discusses the Battle of Camlann and identifies yet another British warlord having a name synonymous with the Dux Bellorum.

The author claims to have presented a comprehensive hypotheses for all of the earliest sources for fifth century Britain using evidence that was declared “inadmissable” by a certain scholar over thirty years ago, stating that the time for a re-examination of this data is long overdue, but in doing so his claims that Arthur is represented by four characters known by four different names throughout the sources is unconvincing.

>> The Author’s website



The Warlords

Stuart Laycock may be familiar to Post-Roman Britain enthusiasts through his previous work Britannia - the Failed State, nominated for Book of the Year 2009 by Current Archaeology, in which he argues that at its height Britain was wealthy Roman state, but by the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th centuries AD, the province was at the point of collapse and it was soon replaced by an Anglo-Saxon culture which had migrated across the North Sea.

Laycock studied Classics at Cambridge, and has worked as an aid worker in Bosnia and Kosovo where he had first-hand experience of tribal conflicts. Using original research, analysing Roman Britain and providing an insight into the missing pieces of the complex jigsaw of the beginnings of British Dark Age history, he brings a unique perspective to the subject. During his studies of late Roman zoomorphic buckles he has built up one of the largest private collections in Britain.


Warlords
The Struggle for Power in Post-Roman Britain
by Stuart Laycock

Paperback: 192 pages
Published by The History Press Ltd (1 April 2009)
ISBN-10: 0752447963

From the Back cover:

“An exciting and fresh approach that sees the Britons not as victims, but active players in the foundation of Anglo-Saxon England”- Dr Kevin Leahy

“The centuries after the end of Roman control of Britain in AD 410 are some of the most vital in Britain’s history – yet some of the least understood. ‘Warlords’ brings to life a world of ambition, brutality and violence in a politically fragmented land, providing a compelling new history of an age that would transform Britain.

By comparing the archaeology against the available historical sources for the period, 'Warlords' presents a coherent picture of the political and military machinations of the fifth and sixth centuries that laid the foundations of English and Welsh history. Included are the warring personalities of the local leaders and a look at the enigma of King Arthur. Some warlords sought power within the old Roman framework; some used an alternative British approach; and, others exploited the emerging Anglo-Saxon system - but for all warlords, the struggle was for power.”

Table of Contents:

Introduction
1. Gerontius
2. Vortigern
3. Hengest
4. Ambrosius
5. Riothamus
6. Aelle
7. The Five Warlords of Gildas
8. Arthur
9. Cerdic
10. Edwin, Cadwallon and Penda
After Post-Roman Britain
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Warlords follows on from Laycock’s previous work Britannia - The Failed State: Tribal Conflict and the End of Roman Britain, and it is recommended to read the earlier book before this so that one gets the full background of his thesis that the Iron Age tribal units and their internal struggles persisted through into the 5th century. In Warlords Laycock sets out to trace the development of these minor kingdoms and produces evidence of a land of British warlords with fertile ambitions in their pursuit of power since the days of Cassivellaunus, who led the British against Caesar’s second invasion of Britain in 54 BC.

Laycock uses each chapter to introduce to the reader to a figure from the sources, starting with little known Gerontius. According to most commentators it is the usurper Constantine III that ejected the Romans from Britain in 409 AD, disastrously crossing to the continent in pursuit of furthering his power of the Western Empire, following previous usurpers from this island like Magnus Maximus, but Laycock suggests it is his general, the British Gerontius that is the driving force behind his ambitions.

Hengest, and his brother Horsa, are usually dismissed as mythical characters from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the names meaning stallion and horse. I would agree with this and do not give much credence to the early accounts of the Anglo-Saxon foundation myth as contained within the pages of Bede, Nennius and the Chronicle, who put quill to parchment several hundred years after the supposed events but Laycock discusses Hengest as an historical character presenting his claim on context and geography without presenting any contemporary evidence to substantiate his claims. He states “it is possible he is mythical, but on balance it looks more likely that he was a real historical figure around whom more poetic and mythical stories layer clustered”.

The following chapters on Ambrosius and Riothamus predictably make the inevitable connection that they could be one and the same person, he concedes that the historical evidence for Arthur is decidedly thin, but cannot resist making the claim that if he was a historical character, then he may have been a Germanic warlord fighting on behalf of the British Catuvallaunian leaders, which he states would explain why he doesn’t get a mention by Gildas. Laycock provides a good chapter on Cerdic, the often neglected British leader, probably because he just doesn’t fit with the generally accepted Anglo-Saxon invasion theory – a Briton creating the great Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, surely not!

Following the ejection of the Romans, Laycock takes the British back to their pre-roman tribal boundaries; Vortigern leader of the Dobunni; Ambrosius an Atrebate; Riothamus a Dumnonian, citing often neglected Dark Age earth works as evidence of boundary markers.

Laycock makes good use of the available sources for the period in attempting to construct a possible scenario for Post-Roman Britain but the vagueness of those sources demands a fair amount of conjecture on the author’s part to complete such a work. His main source of archaeological evidence is, not surprisingly taken from his previous studies, late roman belt buckles. However, we must exercise caution in assuming every find of this particular item denotes the presence of a Germanic warrior.

more from Stuart Laycock:

>> Late Roman Buckles

>> Ditches, Buckles & a Bosnian End to Roman Britain
Article from Wansdyke Project 21, part of the Vortigern Studies group of websites, edited by Robert M. Vermaat, a unique web-based study which focuses on the enigmatic, least-known Dark Ages earthwork, known as Wansdyke.

* * *

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

by
Simon Armitage

"....one of the strangest and most compelling narratives of all time."

Screened on BBC Four over four programs from 4th to 13th June and frequently Broadcast of Radio 4, as part of the BBC’s 2009 Poetry Season, Simon Armitage walked us through the landscape of the poem, revealing the Arthurian legend in a modern quest form North Wales to Staffordshire.

Born in 1963 and living in the village of Marsden, West Yorkshire, Armitage is the latest writer to attempt a full translation of the poem’s 2500 lines, he claims to have carried out this momentous task for all kinds of reasons; some literary, some sentimental, and part private indulgence, the book has gone on to be his most successful, especially in America, where Armitage's translation has been nominated as one of 2008's best books by both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Simon Armitage goes on the trail of one of the jewels in the crown of British poetry, the anonymous Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written about 600 years ago. There is only one known copy of the manuscript, and for a long period it lay dormant in a private collection. Armitage follows in Gawain's footsteps through some of Britain's most beautiful and mystical landscapes and reveals why the tale of a knight beheading a green giant is as relevant now as when it was written, “Death, violence and sex sit cheek by jowl in the poem.”

Simon Armitage joins translators such as JRR Tolkien and Ted Hughes, in translating one of the earliest stories told in English. Tolkien’s translation was so faithful to the original that some commentators have described it as seeming almost older than the original, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight abounds with the supernatural, so it’s not difficult to see why it would appeal to the author of The Lord of the Rings and the creator of the Middle earth mythology.

The poem tells that on New Year's Day, a gigantic Green Knight, mounted on horseback, carrying an axe arrives at King Arthur ‘s court and challenges the knights to a wager: any who accepts must take the axe and strike a single blow against the Green Knight, on condition that the blow will be returned the next year. Gawain, the best of knights, is the only one to accept. Stepping forward, declaring 'this moment must be mine,' Gawain takes a swing with the axe and beheads the Green Knight, who promptly picks up his head and rides off.

One year later Gawain sets out for the Green Chapel, though he has no idea where or what the Green Chapel is, it is this journey that forms the narrative of the film, from start to finish, with Armitage attempting to retrace Sir Gawain’s shadowy footsteps. Armitage, starts at Tintagel in Cornwall with the author musing over the whereabouts of the mystical Camelot. He then traces Gawain's journey from Camelot to the Green Chapel across the rural landscapes of Wales and England.

Gawain’s journey takes him along the north coast of Wales, the poem tells us, keeping Anglesey to his left before crossing at “Holy Hede”. A similar beheading and miraculous recovery supposedly took place St Winifred’s Well, at Holywell in Flintshire, where St Beuno restored his niece Winifred to life after her head had been severed by Cardoc, although Armitage declines the invitation of a dip in the waters of the well, settling instead for a paddle in bare feet, before crossing the Dee by drier means in a motorboat. The tale gives graphic detail of the butchering of a deer caught while out hunting which was unnecessarily portrayed in the documentary

Passing the Wirral and treading into Cheshire, several locations have been suggested for the site of the Green Knight’s abode, but Armitage heads for the Staffordshire Moorlands, and the Roaches, North of Leek, "It looks a wild place with no settlement anywhere to be seen, but heady heights to both halves of the valley," states the poem, "and set with sabre-toothed stones of such sharpness, no cloud in the sky could escape unscratched.”

We know from the dialect in the original poem that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by someone living in the North Midlands, Cheshire or Staffordshire, Armitage says "It can be traced to an area near the Staffordshire market town of Leek."

“The place you head for holds a hidden peril," Gawain's servant tells him. "In that wilderness lives a wildman, the worst in the world. He's brooding and brutal, and loves bludgeoning humans."

At Doxey Pool Armitage met with Leek Post & Times columnist and former editor Doug Pickford, author of many local books on the area of the Three Shires, and battled some pretty atrocious Moorlands weather;  "being in these parts makes you feel a kinship with the poet," said Armitage, as he pushed on for the strange moss-covered geological fault of Lud's Church, which he calls “the perfect setting for the poem’s finale,” The Green Chapel, that “perilous place where the knight would receive the slaughter man's strike.”

The terrified Gawain enters the chasm and hears above him the grinding of the giant’s axe being sharpened in anticipation of his fate. Gawain survived his ordeal being protected by a green girdle given to him by the lady of the house where he stayed, possibly the nearby Swythamley Hall.

I tuned in to this program by chance while channel flicking, as you do when there’s not much on, and it was pleasing to see a retelling of the poem that kept to the original, watching earnestly to find the location of the Green Knight’s Chapel, we had to wait to the last 15 minutes to find Armitage arriving in Lud’s Church which was indeed a dramatic setting for the ending to the tale.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is one of the finest surviving examples of Middle English poetry, but little is known about the author - except hints that he came from the north of England.

Tolkien identified the language of the poem as being of 14th century North Midlands. In the 1950s, Professor Ralph Elliott from Keele University in North Staffordshire went further and with field trips with his students identified many rare topographical terms used in the poem which appear in place-names all very local to the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands. Notably, Elliott also identified the ‘Green Chapel’ as ‘Lud’s Church’ (or Ludchurch) the 300 foot long rock chasm near the Swythamley estate, just inside the North Staffordshire border.

John Levitt, another Keele professor, continued Elliott’s researches and claimed that the poet was probably a monk at the nearby, now ruined, Dieulacresse Abbey at Leek. Levitt claimed that if you read the poem with a Potteries accent, then it all became clear, and wasn’t then incomprehensible at all, having a magic, alliterative, hypnotic quality. Set in the wildernesses of the Staffordshire moorlands, it makes every tree and every rock come alive.


Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Simon Armitage’s book was published in 2006 and readily available, it has been described as the most readable version of the poem, while maintaining the strange alliterative verse of the original, Armitage makes the poem appear lucid, accessible, fresh and modern, bringing the text to life.

>> A Knight's Tale
Article by Simon Armitage in the Guardian on translating Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 16 December 2006.

>> Author's website

* * *

Farewell Pendragon

The Pendragon Society 1959 – 2009
50 and out…….

The Pendragon Society has announced its closure after 50 years in existence, the publication of a 150 page Jubilee Book will be issued later this year to commemorate their term as an Arthurian Society. The content of the book will be an anthology of key articles collected from the journal during those fifty years.

There is no mention of the Society's closure in the latest issue of the journal Pendragon, it would appear to be an after thought following printing. The Society’s website has put up the following statement:

“It is with regret that we have to announce that the Pendragon Society will cease to operate in September 2009, after fifty years of activity in the Arthurian field. We have decided to close Pendragon on our 50th anniversary as we feel we have largely achieved what our founders set out to do at Winchester in 1959. Arthurian studies are now a worldwide interest – it is difficult to remember that when we started on our journey they were little more than stories told to children at their mother's knees - as Jess Foster our founder once wrote.”

The Pendragon Society was dedicated to Arthurian Studies and the Matter of Britain in three main areas: history, literature, legend and folklore, issuing Pendragon a 48 page Journal, with Arthurian articles and featuring news, reviews, artwork, poetry, the Arts and popular culture.

The Pendragon Society was founded in 1959 at Winchester by the inspirational Jess Foster who ran the society until her death in 1979. Foster moved to Bristol in 1964 building up an international membership including authors, artists, academics, and enthusiastic amateurs of the Arthurian theme. The Bristol group held numerous events and functions and were associated with the five year excavations at South Cadbury hillfort in Somerset, to find Camelot led by respected archaeologist, Leslie Alcock. However, although definitely a large Dark Age hill fort, the excavations at Cadbury proved inconclusive as regards definitively locating the site of King Arthur's legendary capital.

Following the Cadbury excavations it was difficult for the Society not to take an interest in the emerging new age earth mysteries movement of the 1960’s, and following events like the Pendragon Society - Ley Hunter Club joint field trip to Avebury in 1962 new interests began to diverge onto the Mythical Quest for the Ancient Wisdom flirting with such topics as alignments, dragon lore, standing stones, geometry cathedrals, mazes, terrestrial zodiacs, Celtic Christianity and perpetual choirs. Throughout these diverse topics Foster maintained the Society’s focus on Arthur as the basis of its subsistence, describing the broadening outlook as a new contemporary interest in The Matter of Britain also as Merlin Studies, she wrote:

“all the years we have been at Cadbury we have been asking ourselves WHERE?
The only difference now is that we have begun to ask ourselves WHY?’

Later a group of Bristol based members began the long-running dig at the site of a Dark Age church at Llanellen on the Gower peninsula in South Wales, and in the 1970’s the Society organised an expedition to northern Carmarthenshire in South west Wales, to evaluate the work of a local Welsh historian, Lewis Edwards, who had been writing about Arthurian connections in the area since the late 1940s and had claimed to have discovered a Zodiac Temple, similar to the Temple of Stars found at Glastonbury. Following the Pendragon Society’s visit there began a series of expeditions, returning to the Pumpsaint area of northern Carmarthenshire, known as the The Caer Sidi Expeditions, from 1972-1979; the precise meaning of the name 'Sidi' in Caer Sidi is problematic; a possible meaning is the 'revolving fortress', but may also mean the 'Fortress of the Zodiac', as "sidydd" means "Zodiac" in modern Welsh.

The revolving fortress features in later grail romances and this is the direction the Society has taken in later years; the current editorial team relying more on Medieval Arthurian literature and popular culture than the historical Arthur and archaeological expeditions became a thing of the past. Scholarly articles became few and far between in later issues, history and archaeology taking a back seat to news, reviews, artwork, and poetry: “King Arthur is gay” and “What did Arthur drink” being typical examples. Charles W. Evans-Günther summed it up when he announced his resignation as a subscriber saying Pendragon had lost its way and with the death of President Professor William Russell in 2006 publication of the journal became erratic in recent years, which is usually the first indicator of descent into terminal decline.

So after 50 years the current editorial team have taken the decision to wind up the Pendragon Society at a time when Arthurian studies are more popular than ever but subscriber numbers are rapidly diminishing. The sad fact is there is nothing else in this field to compare to Pendragon and this trend is indicative of the future for small press journals.

Farewell Pendragon

* * *

Wizards and Wildmen: Son of an Incubus

Lud’s Church (XIV)
Part Two

Son of an Incubus
We discussed in Part VII – Lludd’s Dragons how Geoffrey substitutes the fatherless boy “Merlin, who was also called Ambrose” for “Ambrosius” in his account of Vortigern’s collapsing tower due to a subterranean pool containing the dragons. Geoffrey says that Vortigern came to Mount Erir, considered to be Eryri, 'Abode of Eagles', modern Snowdon, his magicians advise him that the solution is that he must sprinkle the stones and cement with the blood from a fatherless child. The earliest record of the story is found in the 8th Century Historia Brittonum, attributed to Nennius, c.800AD:

“Vortigern inquired of his wise men the cause of this opposition to his undertaking, and of so much useless expense of labour? They replied, "You must find a child born without a father, put him to death, and sprinkle with his blood the ground on which the citadel is to be build, or you will never accomplish your purpose." [9]

From the above passage it is quite clear that the fatherless child, Ambrose (Emrys in Welsh) was to be a blood sacrifice to prevent the building collapsing; there was a common belief that human sacrifices, usually a child, must be buried under the foundations of monuments and buildings. Archeology supports this tradition as human remains have been found in the foundations of many structures from the Neolithic age to Roman times.

The Mabinogion tale Lludd and Llefelys, was contained, albeit it in abridged form, in later Welsh redactions of Geoffrey’s Historia, no doubt to account for how the dragons came to be buried at Dinas Emrys as told by Geoffrey in his story of ‘Vortigern and Merlin Ambrose’ included in his "Historia Regum Britanniae" (History of the Kings of Britain). The dragons were buried at Dinas Emrys, or the ‘fortress of Ambrose’, which was considered to be the stronghold of Britain. This can be no other, than the site of the ancient hill fort near Beddgelert, Snowdonia, North Wales, still called to this day Dinas Emrys. [10]

In the Nennius version of the tale, “the king sent messengers throughout Britain, in search of a child born without a father. After having inquired in all the provinces, they came to the field of Ælecti in the district of Glevensing”. This is variously called Elleti, Electi, Gleti, near Bassaleg in the district between the rivers Usk and Rumney in Monmouthshire. [11]

Geoffrey states that Vortigern’s magicians found a fatherless child for the foundation sacrifice, “They came to Kaermerdin and heard Merlin, who's mother was the daughter of the king of Demetia, but his father was unknown. The king calls for Maugantius to be called who advises him that Apuleius tells us in his book concerning the Demon of Socrates that between the moon and earth live spirits called ‘incubuses’ who assume human shape and lay with women.”

In the Nennius account, when asked his name, the boy replies to Vortigern:

"I am called Ambrose (in British Embresguletic)”, returned the boy; and in answer to the king's question, "What is your origin?" he replied, "A Roman consul was my father." [12]

This passage is somewhat contradictory as previously Ambrose was a fatherless child but now would appear to be the precursor of Ambrosius from a later passage in Nennius where he is “Ambrosius, who was the great king among the kings of Britain”, a totally different character who Geoffrey says is “Ambrose, also called Merlin”. For some reason unknown to us, Geoffrey confuses his Merlin with the boy Ambrose. Geoffrey was no doubt aware of the prophet Myrddin from the Omen of Britain, possibly his inspiration for the wizard, and this may be the reason for his association of the two figures both with the gift of prophecy as one and the same persona, regardless of the chronology. Geoffrey’s Merlin then goes on to become the prophet and advisor to Uther Pendragon and brings about Arthur's conception in his Historia.

After the incident at Dinas Emrys the Ambrose of Nennius and Geoffrey diverge.

In Geoffrey’s Historia Merlin was responsible for magically transferring The Giant’s Dance (Stonehenge) from Ireland to Salisbury Plain in England. Geoffrey’s account may have been based on an earlier tradition of the stones being transported from a site across the water, as it is now accepted fact that the smaller Bluestones were brought to Salisbury Plain from Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire.

Some 20 miles from the Bluestone site is the town of Carmarthen, according to Geoffrey, Merlin was born here and the city was later named Kaermerdin ("Merlin's fortress") after him. However, the etymology of the Roman name is Moridunum, (the sea fortress), therefore it is more likely that Merlin was named from the later Welsh name of Caerfyrddin, (Myrddin’s city). Until recently the town used to have an old oak known as Merlin’s Tree and about two and a half miles away is Bryn Myrddin (Merlin’s Hill), the summit known as Merlin’s Chair, the wood below is called Merlin’s Grove and on the other side of the road is Merlin’s Stone (Carreg Fyrddin). Three miles south west of the town is another megalith known as Merlin’s Quoit. There is also a local legend of Merlin’s Cave, a secret chamber, in the lower part of the hill, stating that Merlin is still here and alive and if you could find the right place to stand you can hear the old wizard. [13]

In a later passage in Nennius we see the emergence of Ambrosius, the leader of the British against the Saxons, a historical figure totally unrelated to Geoffrey’s Historia where he is Ambrose Merlin, and then referred to simply as Merlin. The Ambrosius from Nennius’ account would appear to be the same man as the one Dark Age leader admired by Gildas in his rant against the British Kings that he terms ‘Tyrants’; the same Ambrosius who rallied the British in the fight against the Saxons, and leader of the victorious Britons at the Battle of Badon:

“[The British] …took arms under the conduct of Ambrosius Aurelianus, a modest man, who of all the Roman nation was then alone in the confusion of this troubled period by chance left alive. His parents, who for their merit were adorned with the purple, kind been slain in these same broils, and now his progeny in these our days, although shamefully degenerated from the worthiness of their ancestors, provoke to battle their cruel conquerors, and by the goodness of our Lord obtain the victory.” [14]

“After this, sometimes our countrymen, sometimes the enemy, won the field ………. until the year of the siege of Mount Badon when took place also the last almost, though not the least slaughter of our cruel foes, which was (as I am sure) forty-four years and one month after the landing of the Saxons, and also the time of my own nativity”. [15]

Chapter 56 of Nennius, the famous list of Arthur’s twelve Battles, records the victory of Badon as one of Arthur’s victories; therefore if we are looking for a historical Arthur the sources direct us towards Ambrosius.

Ambrosius Aurelianus is named Aurelius Ambrosius in Geoffrey’s Historia; this is evident as one and the same person as he refers to the “book which Gildas wrote concerning the victory of Aurelius Ambrosius” brother to Constans and Uthyr Pendragon and a totally separate character from his (Ambrose) Merlin. There appears to be a hint of a tradition of civil war between the two factions of Ambrosius and Vortigern within the British Dark Age sources of Gildas, Nennius and Geoffrey (not that he can be considered a serious historical source); “And from the reign of Vortigern to the quarrel between Guitolinus and Ambrosius, are twelve years, which is Guoloppum, that is Catgwaloph”. [16] But that, as they say, is another story.

Geoffrey was no doubt aware of the prophet Myrddin in the 10th Century poem the Omen of Britain, which almost certainly influenced the main section of his Historia pertaining to Merlin, “The Prophecies of Merlin” which he inserted at Book VII, although they were certainly in circulation prior to the publication of the main opus c.1136AD. After bringing the Giant’s Dance (Stonehenge) to Britain, followed by Arthur’s conception, Merlin’s significance fades from the Historia.

Around 1150AD the “Vita Merlini” (Life of Merlin) was published and generally attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth, although some dispute this as it depicts a totally different Merlin from Geoffrey’s earlier creation. Some consider that Geoffrey became aware of the Northern Myrddin tradition sometime after he had written his Historia and produced the Vita Merlini to put the record straight as it were, but the later account contradicts his earlier Merlin, leading to the situation of two Merlins, separated by chronology and geography.

Myrddin is recorded in only one Triad:

Three Skilful Bards were at Arthur’s Court
Myrddin son of Morfyn,
Myrddin Emrys,
And Taliesin.

This Triad makes the clear distinction that there are two Myrddin’s; the son of Morfyn of the Northern Tradition and Myrddin Emrys, the Ambrose Merlin of Geoffrey’s creation.

Geoffrey’s later Vita Merlini is set in Northern Britain and mentions a battle which appears to be based on an historical account listed in a 10th Century manuscript featuring historical Northern British characters such as Peredur campaigning against Gwenddolau and Merlin’s sister Ganieda being wife of Rodarch (Rhydderch) king of the Cumbrians. Following this terrible battle, Merlin fled into the forest and lived an animal life, becoming a wildman of the woods with the gift, some would say the curse, of prophecy, whereas Geoffrey’s earlier Merlin (Ambrose) was born with the gift of prophecy.

Continued in Wizards and Wildmen Part III - Magicians and Madmen

* * *

Notes:

9. Historia Brittonum, Attributed to Nennius, Translated by: J.A. Giles, in Six Old English Chronicles.
10. Archaeologist Dr H. N. Savory excavated the hill fort of Dinas Emrys between 1954-6, although it has long been known that there is a pool inside of the fort, he was surprised to find that not only were the fortifications of about the right Dark Age date for either Vortigern and Ambrosius, but there was also a later date, perhaps 11th Century, platform above the pool as described in the Historia Britonum.
11. Frank D. Reno, The Historic King Arthur, pp.42-43 states “... the village called in Welsh "Maesaleg," ie, campus Electi called at present ‘Bassaleg’ “.
12. Historia Brittonum, Attributed to Nennius, Translated by: J.A. Giles, in Six Old English Chronicles. It is generally accepted that "Embresgueltic" here refers to "Prince Emrys”. ‘Embreis guletic’ (Old Welsh) is glossed here in the manuscript (a ‘gloss’ being a later addition to the original, an explanatory note in the margin perhaps). In Modern Welsh this appears as Emrys Wledig; as we seen in the later medieval Mabinogion tradition The Dream of Mascen Wledig it can also mean ‘Imperator’ (Emperor). John Morris, in Nennius British History and the Welsh Annals, Phillimore, 1980, translates this as “Emrys the Overlord”. It has been suggested that Vortigern is a title rather than a name, from the Brythonic word "tigern" thus "Vor-tigern" would mean something like “high-king” or "overlord". Gildas does not directly mention the name of Vortigern, only by a probable deliberate pun on his name as the “superbus tyrannus”; the proud tyrant who invited the Saxons into the country.
13. Geoffrey Ashe, The Traveller’s Guide to Arthurian Britain, Gothic Image Publications.
14. Gildas - De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, trans. J A Giles. “Wearing the purple” is a clear reference to Ambrosius’s family being of imperial stock as it was the colour worn by Roman Emperors, typified by the Toga Purpurea, used by a triumphant army commander when he entered Rome after a victorious war and the Toga Picta, a purple robe embroidered with gold. It was one of the insignia of higher Republican officials, worn only on a triumphant occasion; the custom was later adopted by emperors.
15. Gildas - De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, trans. J A Giles. Giles translates "Badonici montis" as "Bath-hill".
16. Historia Brittonum, Attributed to Nennius, Translated by: J.A. Giles, in Six Old English Chronicles. Guoloppum, (Catgwaloph) that is the Battle of Wallop 437AD, generally considered to have taken place in North-West Hampshire, where there are the three villages Over, Middle and Nether Wallop, sited along three miles of the Wallop Brook, barely ten miles as the crow flies from Amesbury, the traditional stronghold of Ambrosius. This area of Hampshire appears to have been a stronghold of the Dark Age British as attested by survival of settlement place-names such as Andover and Micheldover.

Picture Credits:
• Dinas Emrys [circa 1795]
• Ambrose Merlin reads his prophecies to Vortigern, from a manuscript of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Prophetiae Merlini.

* * *

Wizards and Wildmen: Lleu's Death

Lud’s Church (XIV)
Part One

Pierced by a spear, crushed by a stone,
And drowned in the stream’s waters,
Myrddin died a triple death. [1]
Lleu’s Death
Lleu’s transformation into an eagle at the end of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi has been the subject of much discussion, not least the similarities between Lleu and the Norse god Odin in what is claimed to be a shamanistic initiation ritual. The eagle features in many mythologies around the world, its majestic qualities leading to association with ancient kings throughout history.

The Mabinogi of Math details a strange sequence of conditions required to bring about Lleu’s death. Firstly, he can only be killed with a spear that must have been worked for a year and a day, only on Sunday, during the time of Mass; secondly he cannot be killed inside or outside a house; thirdly he can neither be killed on horseback or on foot.

These conditions are overcome when Lleu emerges from the bath in a gazebo-like bath house, having no walls but a roof, therefore neither “indoors or out”. He places one foot on the back of a buck-goat and the other on the edge of the bath, neither “on land nor on water” or “on horseback or on foot”.

Goronowy Pebyr cast the spear which struck Lleu, he immediately turned into an eagle and took flight to be found later on an oak tree by Gwydion at Nantlle in western Snowdonia. A suggested translation for Goronwy Pebyr has been “shining/radiant, spearman”. “Shining/radiant” has also been suggested as an etymology for the name Lleu which has led to suggestions that he is a sun deity

The conditions required to bring about Lleu’s death bring to mind the 14th Century romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, conjectured at being written in the Staffordshire Moorlands, nearby to Lud’s Church. We have already discussed how this medieval tale probably derived originally from the much earlier 8th Century Irish tale Bricriu’s Feast (The Champion’s Bargain or Portion). [2] A shorter, more archaic version of Bricriu’s Feast, called the Yellow or Terror version (sometimes the Uath version), and differs from the Champion’s Bargain in that the warriors must travel to meet the challenger. They meet a man known as Yellow son of Fair, who sends them onto meet a man called Terror son of Great Fear who challenges them to the Beheading Contest beside a lake.

The Beheading Contest always features three strikes, or axe cuts in this tale, which is symbolic of the threefold death reserved for Kings and Deities in Proto-Indo-European mythology holding a particular obsession in Celtic myth. There are essentially two distinct types of threefold death in Indo-European myth, the first being, the death of one individual simultaneously in three ways; hanging from a tree (strangulation); drowning; wounding. The threefold death is foretold, often by the victim himself, and can be considered as retribution for an offence against one, or more, of the three functions of Indo-European society. [3]
The second form of the threefold death is divided into three distinct deaths as sacrifices to three distinct gods of the three functions.

The threefold death as three distinct sacrifices can be found in the epic poem Pharsalia, (also known as De Bello Civili or On the Civil War) telling of the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate, written by Lucan in 61-65AD. The poem describes Caesar's conquest of Gaul; he describes three Celtic gods to whom are delivered human sacrifices:

”And those who pacify with blood accursed
Savage Teutates, Hesus' horrid shrines,
And Taranis' altars cruel as were those” [4]

According to a marginal note in a medieval manuscript of the Pharsalia:

“Taranis was propitiated by burning, Teutates by drowning, and Esus by means of suspending his victims from trees and ritually wounding them”.

Book III of the The Pharsalia recounts the Roman vexation at the horror of the Druid groves, giving another life in their affirmation of the transmigration of the soul, which permeated Celtic religion at the time. The following passage paints a macabre scene of the Druid’s forest groves and appears to portray firsthand experience by the poet:

“Now fell the forests far and wide, despoiled
Of all their giant trunks: for as the mound
On earth and brushwood stood, a timber frame
Held firm the soil, lest pressed beneath its towers
The mass might topple down. There stood a grove
Which from the earliest time no hand of man
Had dared to violate; hidden from the sun
Its chill recesses; matted boughs entwined
Prisoned the air within. No sylvan nymphs
Here found a home, nor Pan, but savage rites
And barbarous worship, altars horrible
On massive stones upreared; sacred with blood
Of men was every tree. If faith be given
To ancient myth, no fowl has ever dared
To rest upon those branches, and no beast
Has made his lair beneath: no tempest falls,
Nor lightnings flash upon it from the cloud.
Stagnant the air, unmoving, yet the leaves
Filled with mysterious trembling; dripped the streamsFrom coal-black fountains; effigies of gods
Rude, scarcely fashioned from some fallen trunk” [5]

Lleu in Y Gododdin
In Part XIII – Gwydion’s Eagle we discussed Y Gododdin the Dark Age poem recalling a raid by the Gododdin, a tribe occupying modern Lothian, on Catraeth, an event usually dated around the end of the 6th Century. The raid was a disaster for the Northern Britons; in one account only the poet Aneirin survives. We noted how there are in existence various renditions of that poem owing to the fact that it survives in the mid-13th Century manuscript in at least three variants, namely A, B1 and B2 texts.
All three texts, and therefore the oldest variant, B2 text, contain the lines “the rock of Lleu’s tribe, the folk of Lleu’s mountain stronghold at Gododdin’s frontier” a reference to Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh, also known as The Crag or The Rock.

It has been proposed that the youngest variant of Y Gododdin, the A text, moved to Gwynedd following the Battle of Winwaed, recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle as 655AD. This variant became enlarged with additions from a Welsh scribe to 88 stanzas and was no doubt influenced by a similar oral tradition as the Mabinogi as it contains references to characters from Culhwch ac Olwen and mentions Twrch Trwyth, the boar hunted by Arthur. The A text contains the reference to “Gwydion’s Eagle” generally accepted as a direct reference to Lleu from the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. [6]

The episode of Lleu’s death at the end of the Mabinogi of Math would appear to contain all the details of the threefold death in Celtic society, even transmigration of his soul as an eagle. Significantly, this same stanza also alludes to Myrddin, who also suffered a threefold death.

Myrddin in Y Gododdin
In that same stanza of the A text variant of Y Gododdin mentioning Lleu as Gwydyen’s Eagle there is also an allusion to Myrddin, included in the following lines,

Morien defended,
The fair song of Myrddin and laid the head,
Of a chief in the earth….. [7]

Compare with another translation of the same passage:

Morien defended,
Myrddin’s praise song, and placed the chieftain,
In earth….. [8]

The earlier, B text, version of the poem omits this line, therefore it cannot safely be regarded as part of the original 6th Century poem, and suspiciously looking like a later addition to the A text variant of Y Gododdin, dated to 900-1100 AD, as we have seen above, developed with Gwynedd influence. Although Myrddin does not appear in the Mabinogi, his influence would appear to be from an independent Northern tradition.

The earliest known reference to Myrddin occurs in "Armes Prydein" (the Omen or Prophecy of Britain). The earliest extant manuscript copy of this prophetic poem dates to c.1275 AD, contained within the Book of Taliesin. However, the poem has been dated on linguistic and historic grounds to c.930 AD. The name Myrddin appears only once in the poem, in the opening line of one stanza that reads:

"Dysgogan Myrdin ..." (Myrddin fortells)

We cannot totally dismiss the possibility that the poem experienced later additions in Gwynedd as with Y Gododdin textual variations, and the name Myrddin substituted at some point later than 930 AD, it is generally considered to be original as it safely fits the poem structure as a similar opening formula is used on two other occasions in the poem:

"Dysgogan Awen ..." (poetic inspiration fortells)
"Dysgogan derwydon ..." (wise men fortell)

Myrddin is considered by some commentators to be a genuine historical character from Dark Age Northern Britain, but there would appear to be no evidence to support this. Historically he is an even more elusive than the warrior Arthur. The basic element of the Myrddin legend no doubt has its provenance in Northern Britain and as we have seen with Y Gododdin, became influenced by later Welsh medieval literature.

However, there does appear to be an independent tradition regarding a prophet called Myrddin as we have seen in the Omen of Britain, although we cannot securely date this tradition prior to the 10th Century. The common perception of a wizard in a pointed hat with long white beard as familiar to most people from childhood tales are no more than modern interpretations of the Merlin creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Geoffrey had to rename him as Merlin as Myrddin sounds too much like merde, excrement to a Norman audience.

Continued in Wizards and Wildmen Part II - Son of an Incubus

*

Notes:
1. "Meldred and Lailoken”, British Library manuscript Cotton Titus A. XIX.
2. See Part III – The Hawk of May
3. The Trifunctional Hypothesis is a controversial conjecture proposed by French mythographer Georges Dumézil. The hypothesis states that Indo-European religion has societies and religions divided into three similar roles: warriors, priests, and farmers, as seen in the Welsh story Lludd & Lleuelys, which echoes three elements of the story of Naudu and Lug, in the Irish tale The Second Battle of Mag Tuired.
4. Pharsalia (“On The Civil War"), BOOK I, The Crossing of the Rubicon - Marcus Annaeus Lucanus. The Online Medieval & Classical Library [http://omacl.org/Pharsalia/book1.html]
5. Pharsalia (“On The Civil War"), BOOK III Massilia, The Online Medieval & Classical Library [http://omacl.org/Pharsalia/book3.html]
6. John T Koch, The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text & Context from Dark Age North Britain, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1997.
7. A O H Jarman, Aneirin: Y Gododdin, Gomer Press 1990, stanza 45, p.30.
8. Joseph P Clancy, Medieval Welsh Poems, Four Courts Press 2003, A text, stanza 40, p.55.


Picture Credits:
• Lleu’s Bath House from The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest
• Merlin and Vivien enter the woods. Engraving by Gustave Dore.

* * *

Gwydion’s Eagle

Lud’s Church (XIII)

Eagle, being on the top of the oak
If thou beest of the race of birds
Thou canst not be either domestic or tame [1]

Gwydion’s Eagle
As we have seen in the poem the Battle of the Trees, which I have proposed as an allusion to the tales of the Mabinogi and specifically the episode of Fourth Branch, although Gwydion and Math are, Lleu is not mentioned directly but there may be an reference to him in the form of an Eagle in the line: “I have been a course, I have been an eagle.”

The poem’s association with the cycle of tales included in the Mabinogi would appear to be confirmed by the lines immediately preceding this:

“I have been a continuing bridge, Over three score Abers”

This could well be a reference to Bran the Blessed, (= Bendigeidfran, meaning literally "Blessed Crow”) who stretches himself to form a bridge over a river (Aber = river mouth) in the Second branch tale "Branwen daughter of Llyr". The poem goes on to mention the construction of Blodueudd from flowers by Math and Gwydion and even Goronwy appears in the later stages just as he does at the ending of the Fourth Branch.

There is a further allusion to Lleu as an eagle in the Dark Age poem Y Gododdin of Aneirin.
Aneirin, referred to as Aneirin of Flowing Verse, is named as one of the five bards famous for their poetry in the Historia Brittonum, attributed to Nennius, c.829AD, and is generally regarded as a genuine historical character. The poem Y Gododdin, or Canu Aneirin (the Song of Aneirin) is claimed to record a historical, disastrous event when a war band of three hundred men set out from the northern British kingdom of Gododdin, to attack the northern Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a place named Catraeth, (claimed to be modern Catterick) c. 595 - 600 AD. Some accounts say only three Britons survived the encounter, others only Aneirin himself lived to tell the tale.

There has been considerable debate amongst scholars over the location of the battle, the opponents, the use of Brittonic cavalry, the date, transmission of the poem to Wales and of course the poem may contain the earliest reference to Arthur the Warrior. Intriguing as it may be, a full discussion of the contents of Y Gododdin and the Battle of Catraeth is beyond the scope of this work and will have to wait for another day, for now we are primarily concerned with the allusion to Lleu as an eagle in Y Gododdin: “y am wyr eryr Gwydyen”

This obscure passage has been variously translated:

For a feast, most sad, most precious,
For settled, for desolate land,
For the falling of hair from the head,
Among soldiers, an eagle, Gwydyen.
With his spear he fought for Gwyddug,
A Planner, a tiller, its owner.
Three bristled boars, bent on destruction,
Morien carried off with his spear,
Myrddin of song, sharing the best Part of his wealth, our strength and support.
Ramparts ringing, the war-band fighting
With the Saxons and Irish and Picts,
He bore the stiff red corpse of Bradwen,
Deft-handed Gwenabwy fab Gwen. [2]

Compare with another translation of the same passage:

For the piercing of the skilful and most learned man,
For the fair corpse which fell prostrate on the ground,
For the failing of the hair from off his head,
From the grandson of the eagle of Gwydien,
Did not Gwyddwg defend with his spear,
Resembling and honouring his master?
Morieu of the sacred song defended
The wall, and deposed the head
Of the chief in the ground, both our support and our sovereign
Equal to three men, to please the maid, was Bradwen,
Equal to twelve was Gwenabwy the son of Gwen. [3]

A O H Jarman translates this line as “For his warriors, Gwyddien was an eagle” [4]

At first glance it would appear alarming that these scholars could vary so much in their translations, however archaic Welsh is notoriously difficult language and we can forgive any apparent shortcomings of the translators when we consider that the poem in its current manuscript form, Cardiff MS 2.81, dating from the mid-13th Century, would appear to be a muddle of at least two different versions as indicated by the repetition of certain elegies, distinguished respectively as “A” and “B” texts. This was recognised by Skene over a hundred years ago in his Four Ancient Books of Wales which contained a second Gododdin which was thought to be a second redaction of The Gododdin, immediately following the Gwarchan of Maelderw.

The Book of Aneirin
There is only one extant early manuscript of Y Gododdin, “The Book of Aneirin”, (Llyfr Aneirin), kept in Cardiff Central Library, thought to date to c.1265. It is generally accepted that this manuscript contains the work of two scribes, referred to as Scribe A and Scribe B. Scribe A wrote down 88 stanzas of the poem, leaving a blank page before continuing with four poems known as Gorchanau. Scribe A recorded the 88 awdlau [5] and the Gorchanau in Middle Welsh. Later Scribe B added material to the same manuscript, and must have had access to an earlier manuscript since the material he added was in Old Welsh. Scribe B added some 35 awdlau, some being variants of the awdlau already written down by Scribe A, and some of these had been omitted by Scribe A.

Three folios appear to be missing from the end of the manuscript, indicating some material has been lost, this would appear to be confirmed by the incompleteness of the last awdl which breaks off short. This is further complicated within the material added by Scribe B which is inconsistent. The first 23 awdlau of the B material display partial modernisation, while the remaining material appears to retain the Old Welsh features. This was given the explanation that Scribe B started modernising the orthography as he copied the awdlau, but tired of this and copied the rest of the awdlau as they appeared in the older manuscript. This being an unsatisfactory explanation, Graham Isaac, noting the orthographic practice used by the B Scribe changes radically between B1.23 and B2.24 has suggested that Scribe B was using two source texts, namely B1 (awdlau B.1- 23) and B2 (awdlau B.24 – 42), thereby proposing that the material in the extant manuscript of The Book of Aneirin is from three sources. Therefore we have three textual versions, A, B1, and B2; these variants of Y Gododdin portrayed in awdlau A.48 = B1.3 = B2.24, suggesting that the original first awdl of each version posing a related variant. [6]

John T Koch [7] has taken this a stage further and attempted to untangle this mess and reconstruct the separate Y Gododdin texts. Koch argues that the most archaic text, reflecting the first, or Leech Leud=ud recension, deriving from the original oral tale, remained in the North, possibly Strathclyde, while the AB1 text, The Srath Caruin Recension, moved to Gwynedd following the Battle of Winwaed, which the Anglo Saxon Chronicle records in 655AD, fought between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia-Gwynedd alliance. British/Welsh accounts refer to "Maes Gai". Although the exact location has been lost, the most likely site is likely to be close to Leeds, probably Whinmoor in Yorkshire. From the AB1 text derived the separate A and B1 texts.

Koch has reconstructed three reconstructed texts, variants A, B1 and B2, categorised as follows:

B2 – the most archaic surviving text, reflecting the first, or Leech Leud=ud recension, deriving from the original oral tale, was absent of Christian influence and does not contain attribution to Aneirin or indeed mention of Aneirin as the sole survivor of the battle, or even the Bernicians (Northern English) as the enemies.

B1 – this text derives from the second or The Srath Caruin recension (AB1), a Christian collection attributed to Aneirin.

A – also derived from the second or The Srath Caruin recension (AB1), but through third and fourth recensions; Kayawc Kynhorawc, and Greddyf Gwr respectively; again a Christian collection attributed to Aneirin, has the Bernicians as the enemy and displays interests in Gwynedd, the Coeling and in the personae of Talysessin and Myrdin.

The AB1 text diverged and the A text in particular, now in Gwynedd, became subject to later additions and interpolations which would seem to account for the reference to Lleu as Gwydion’s eagle and also includes allusion to characters known to us from Culhwch ac Olwen and the Gorchan of Cynvelyn mentions Twrch Trwyth, the boar hunted by Arthur and his men. Gwydion, as the father of Lleu, occurs as Gwydyen in this obscure passage where we have “eryr Gwydyen”, which, as meaning Gwydion's Eagle, would exactly describe Lleu, his son, in the episode after being struck with the spear thrown by Goronwy. Koch interprets this line as a reference to the Fourth Branch’s account of Lleu’s transformation to an eagle, [8]

There is a further allusion to Lleu in the Gododdin poem, awdl B1.18 = A.26: “no one’s horses could match Marchleu” this is a direct reference to the steed of Lleu. In Irish tradition it is Lugh who invented horse racing and in Welsh tradition Lleu’s steed is noted as one of The Bestowed Horses Of The Island Of Britain:

"Melyngan Mangre, march Lleu Law Gyffes"
(Pale Yellow of the Stud, horse of Lleu Skilful-Hand)

Melyngan, Rachel Bromwich, translates this as literally “Pale-White” and mangre as “stud” or “stallion”. [9] We are reminded that the colour white in Celtic mythology usually refers to Otherworldly, or supernatural, qualities.

Lleu’s horse receives a further mention in the poem The Song of the Horses, from the Book of Taliesin XXV, “the steed of Lleu half domesticated”. This poem lists the steeds of heroes of Celtic mythology, Caradawg, Gwythur, Gwarddur, Arthur, and Taliesin amongst others, and is reminiscent of the Triads of the Horses. Worthy of note here is that it is the warrior Gwarddur who is mentioned in Y Gododdin and compared to Arthur, as we have seen the earliest reference to Arthur in extant literature.

However, the line alluding to Lleu is A.40 – line 462, being embroiled in the confusion of awdlau B1.5, A.40, = B1.6, A41, whose relationship is complex and obscure: all four begin with versions of the same line, and three end with versions of the same line, it being impossible to determine the correct original from these four awdlau. Although Koch states that there is no reason to attribute this reference, or anything like it, to the older Srath Caruin Recension, AB1 text (mid 7th Century), it is possibly 9th or 10th Century which significantly predates the Fourth Branch of Mabinogi in its extant manuscript form, providing evidence that the tale of Lleu was known in oral tradition at least.

Of course, Koch’s re-constructed texts have not been without criticism [10] but he should be applauded for attempting what other scholars have shied away from.

Lleu’s Mountain
Significantly the opening stanza to the most archaic Y Gododdin B2 text, derived from the Leech Leud=ud recension, is named from the translation of the opening line The rock of Lleu’s tribe, B2 text awdl B2.24:

The rock of Lleu’s tribe,
the folk of Lleu’s mountain stronghold at Gododdin’s frontier;
the frontier was held. Counsel was taken, storm gathering;
the vessel from over the Firth of a warband from over the Firth.
[A man] who nurtures warbands came to us out of Din Dywyd to be an obstruction to the king’s warband.
The shield of Grugyn before the bull of battle had a broken boss.

As we have seen above B2.24 exists in three variants; B2.24=B1.3=A.48; denoting the archaic provenance of this singular awdl, which, according to Koch, is “primary material, pre-Christian, linguistically Archaic” and regards the opening lines as referring to a hill fort on Gododdin’s frontier probably Din Eidin (modern Edinburgh), [11] this was the chief citadel of the Britons of Gododdin.

Koch posits Leech Leu-dud interprets as ‘the rock of the tribe of Lugus’ (Celtic *luga-touta) would be a circumlocution for Tut Leu-ure ‘the tribe of Lleu’s hill fort’ suggesting *Lugu-dunon as an ancient alternative name for Din Eidin. [12] We saw in Part VI – Lludd’s City that according to Geoffrey of Monmouth the City of London was named from ‘Caerlud’. London has clear associations with Lludd, a variant form of the name of the god Lug; lugudunon could easily have become corrupted to London and presents a more credible etymology.

There is an entry in the Roman Ravenna Cosmography, c.700AD, listing Lugudunum, as apparently located somewhere in the north of Britain. We have seen the same name as Dinlleu (same elements reversed) in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi as Lleu’s fortress in North Wales. This name is well known among the Continental Celts, the best known being modern Lyon, generally agreed upon as the ‘fortress of the god Lugus’ (Lug in later Celtic tradition, Lleu in Welsh). [13]

Arthur's Seat
The rock of Lleu’s tribe at Din Eidin ( Lugudunum) can be no other than Arthur’s Seat (Suidhe Arthair), an ancient volcano, towering over Edinburgh and linked with the stories of Arthur the Warrior. Local folklore states that Arthur and his men are sleeping inside the hill, awaiting the call to come forth in time of the Country’s need. This reminds us of the legend of The Iron Gates, near Alderley Edge in Cheshire, discussed in Lud’s Church - Part I. In the earliest records the origin of the name is simply “the Crag” and it has been suggested that this may be a corruption either of the Gaelic Ard-na-Said, meaning “height of arrows”, or Ard Thor, meaning the “height of the thunderer”. [14]

The Lothian Line
The equinox sunrise (21st March and 21st September) is visible over Arthur’s Seat when viewed from Cairnpapple, nearly 29 kilometres to the west. If this line is extended to the east a further 30 kilometres, it crosses over Traprain Law. Therefore the sunrise on the spring and autumn equinoxes when viewed from Arthur’s Seat can be seen to rise over Traprain Law and set over Cairnpapple Hill. This solar phenomenon, presented by the east-west alignment of these three naturally positioned hills, roughly equidistant apart, has been termed “The Lothian line”, being a natural occurrence, similar to the Leek Double Sunset mentioned in Lud’s Church - Part I. This ‘sacred’ Lothian alignment straddles the east-west axis, and gives clear indication as a key calendar marker, the movement of the sun appearing to rotate around the equinoxes, creating an East-West axis when day and night are of equal length. [15]

Lleuddinyawn
The old Brittonnic kingdom of Gododdin extended from south-east Scotland to north-east England, identified as the region of modern Lothian, bordered on the west by the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde, to the north by the Picts, and as far south the English River Tyne. Gododdin included three territories: Manaw Gododdin, (near Stirling), Lleuddinyawn (Lothian), and Berneich, (later to become Anglian Bernicia).

The claim that Din Eidin equates with Lugudunum is supported as the earliest recorded form of "Lothian" is from a 12th Century poem by the Welsh bard, Hywel ap Owain, as “Neu dreitsy tra lliw Lleudinyawn dreuyt”. Lleudinyawn in modern form Lleuddiniawn, means literally, the "land of Lleu's fortress", constructed from the elements lleu (personal name), din (fortress), and -iawn (land of). [16]

We find further evidence of the former size of Lleudinyawn (Lothian), as just north of Dinguaroy, a Celtic coastal fortress in the southerly territory of the Gododdin kingdom, now the site of Bamburgh castle, opposite the Farne Islands, are the rivers of the North and South Low. These were identified on early maps as the North and South Llew, [17] which, as we have previously discussed is the medieval Welsh rendition for Lleu, used in the Mabinogion tradition.

Traditionally the mouth of the River Low (Aber Lleu - "the river-mouth of the god Lug/Lleu") is the site where the Celtic King Urien, Lord of Catraeth, was treacherously killed, after he beseiged Theodoric, “flame-bearer” on the Isle of Metcaut, being the original Brythonic name for Holy Island, Lindisfarne, as told in the Northern History section of the Historia Brittonum, attributed to Nennius, c.829AD:

“….. Hussa reigned seven years. Against him fought four kings, Urien, and Ryderthen, and Guallauc, and Morcant. Theodoric fought bravely, together with his sons, against that Urien. But at that time sometimes the enemy and sometimes our countrymen were defeated, and he shut them up three days and three nights in the island of Metcaut; and whilst he was on an expedition he was murdered, at the instance of Morcant, out of envy…” -. Translation by J.A. Giles, in Six Old English Chronicles.

The story is told in the Llwyarch Hen cycle of poems, contained within the Red Book of Hergest, known as the Death of Urien:

A head I bear by my side,
The head of Urien, the mild leader of his army-
And on his white bosom the sable raven is perched.

A head I bear in my shirt,
The head of Urien who governed a court in mildness-
And on his white bosom the sable raven gluts. ………

Eurdyl will be sorrowful from the tribulation of this night,
And from the fate that is to me befallen;
That her brother should be slain at Aber Lleu.

The poet is clearly carrying Urien’s head, leading to suggestions that it was taken as a trophy or more likely so as the enemy did not retrieve it. The Triads calls the death of Urien one of the "three unfortunate assassinations" and describes Urien as one of the three great battle leaders of Britain. It has puzzled historians for years the location Catraeth, if it was on the border of the Gododdin’s territory it cannot have been Catterick, even more if Urien Rheged was the Lord of Catraeth, why the Gododdin should attack it. Perhaps the poetry of Llywarch Hen and the archaic B2 text hold the answer.

Traprain Law
East Lothian is the location of Traprain Law, considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Scotland, the site of an Iron Age hill fort, thought to have been the capital of the Gododdin, before moving to Din Eidin (Lleu’s fortress). The people of Gododdin (earlier name Gutodin) were known to Romans as the Votadini, an Iron Age tribe, their territory was either side on the Northern Walls providing a buffer zone to the Roman Frontier, tradition states that it is from Manaw Gododdin that Cunedda was moved by Magnus Maximus, into North Wales and founded Gwynedd. The native tale The Dream of Macsen Wledig, included in Charlotte Guest’s Mabinogion, is a romanticised story about the Roman Commander Magnus Maximus, proclaimed Emperor by his army in Britain in AD 383, after recovering Britain from incursions by the Picts and Scots in AD 381.

The Loth Stone is found about 300m south-west of Traprain Law, standing 8 feet high and said to mark the grave of the mythical King Loth, traditionally after whom the Lothians were said to be named, although excavations have not revealed any evidence of a grave in the vicinity of the stone.

Traprain Law, at 725 feet in height, is the site of an ancient hill fort, with evidence of occupation and signs of ramparts dated from c.1000 BC. Following the Roman withdrawal from Southern Scotland to the line of Hadrian's Wall, Traprain Law was occupied from c.200AD almost continuously until c.400AD. East Lothian’s absence of Roman military camps has been interpreted as an indication that authority was maintained from Traprain Law. It would appear probable, that the Votadini had allied with the Romans and historians suspect, acted as a buffer state between the Northern Walls on the Empire frontier. However, c.400AD a final rampart was erected at Traprain Law, and soon after the site abandoned, perhaps related to the break down of Roman rule in Britain. [18]

In 1919 a silver treasure hoard was found by Traprain Law, conjectured to be payment from the Romans to their local allies the Votadini. Following a fire on Traprain Law in 2003, a number of finds where made including 5,000-year-old Neolithic rock art and Bronze Age axes.
This hill was only known as Traprain Law from the late 18th century, prior to that it is found on old maps as “Dunpendyrlaw”, still known locally as Dunpelder. A suggested translation has been Gaelic, Dun, from Brythonic Din ‘fort’ and Brythonic, paladur , or pelydr ‘spear shaft’, owing to the Brythonic origin of this name it may have been called Dinpaladur. [19]

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To recap;

In Part IV - The Search for Lud we discussed how Gwalchmei/Gawain’s mother appears to be one and the same persona albeit substituted with different epithets and it is evident that his father’s name persisted as Lot, Llew or Lleu. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth Gawain’s father was Lot, which as Loth, appears to been have based on the name for a ruler of the Scottish region known as Lothian. As previously discussed, this may have been based this notion on a Northern tradition of Lot which Geoffrey confused with the Lot Luwddoc (of the Host) possibly based on the semi-legendary Leudonus, a late 5th century post-roman ruler of the Gododdin.

In Part III - The Hawk of May we saw how the redactor of the Brut y Brenhinedd - the Welsh translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain –confuses Lot Luwddoc with Llew ap Cynfarch, the brother of Urien Rheged, the most powerful king in Northern Britain at that time. Llew ap Cynfarch is a historical character, mentioned in the Northern genealogies, one of six brothers of the dynasty of Cynfarch Oer "The Dismal" King of North Rheged but features about one hundred years after Lot Luwddoc (Leudonus). Lot was certainly confused with the historical character by the redactor of the Brut who substitutes Llew ap Cynfarch for him in the Brut.

We can now see the reason for the confusion with the name Lew/Lleu and Lot should not be confused with Llew ap Cynfarch, king of Caer Guendoleu.

At the Battle of Arfderydd in AD 573, Gwenddolew ap Ceidio, the King of Caer-Guendoleu, died fighting against the opposing forces led by Ebrauc and Dunoting. Having no heir, Caer-Guendoleu passes into the hands of his cousin, Urien Rheged and is ruled by his two brothers; Llew ap Cynfarch and Arawn ap Cynfarch.

The same stanza of Y Gododdin that mentions Lleu as Gwydyen’s Eagle, there also is an allusion to Myrddin, who went mad after the Battle of Arfderydd and fled to become a Wildman of the woods.

Continued in Part XIV - Wizards and Wildmen

*Edited 08/12/19 - Ten years after publication an error has been pointed to me (see comment below dated 07/12/19), so I have removed the offending illustration.

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Notes:
1. Dialogue of Arthur and the Eagle, 16th Century manuscript, Jes. MS 3.
2. Joseph P.Clancy Earliest Welsh Poetry. Macmillan, London & New York, 1970. Medieval Welsh Poems, published by Four Courts Press 2003.
3. The Four Ancient Books of Wales. ed. by William F. Skene. Edinburgh, 1868.
4. A O H Jarman, Aneirin: Y Gododdin line 440, p30, Gomer Press, 1990.
5. Awdl (plural = awdlau), pronounced “ode,” “lay”. The most highly regarded form of Welsh bardic composition. The word, originally a variant of the Celtic term for rhyme, odl, came to mean a run of monorhyming lines, a complete poem in monorhyme.
6. G R Isaac, Canu Aneirin and awdl LI, Journal of Celtic Linguistics 2, 1993
7. John T Koch, The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text & Context from Dark Age North Britain, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1997.
8. Ibid. p160
9. Rachel Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, The Triads of the Island of Britain, 3rd Edition, University Of Wales Press, 2006, p104.
10. G R Isaac, "Readings in the history and transmission of the Gododdin". Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 37, 1999. pp. 55-78
11. Koch, op cit. p131.
12. Ibid. p131.
13. A.L.F. Rivet and C. Smith, The Place-names of Roman Britain, Batsford, London (1979) 401-2).
14. Philip Coppens, Land of the Gods; Lothian’s Scared Landscape
15. Ibid.. Coppens states that Steve Sweeney-Turner (see note 16 below) first proposed that there might be “a kind of symmetrical plan underlying the whole of Gododdin/Lothian, dating back from the pre-Celtic period and throughout it.” Sweeney-Turner thought the shape was that of a diamond, from Cairnpapple in the West to Traprain Law in the East, and with Arthur’s Seat at its epicentre.
16. Steve Sweeney-Turner, Ancient Lothian website, lleu of lleuddiniawn 
17. Alexander and William McCall, Artur, Gwenwhyvawr and Myrddin: Ancient Brythons of the North, Pentland Press, 1997, p.172.
18. British Archaeology magazine, Issue 57, February 2001
19. Bethany Fox ,  The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland, The Heroic Age, A Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe Issue 10 (May 2007)

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