The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (29 page)

The battle of Caer Faddon probably took place in the late sixth century, a hundred years after Badon and twenty years after Gildas’s death, though we can’t be certain of that. Even
before Gildas died the Saxon war machine had stirred again. In 556 Cynric and Ceawlin fought the British at
Beranbyrg
(Barbury Castle), close to Liddington Castle in Wiltshire. The date may
not be wholly accurate, because the next victory isn’t recorded until 571, when the West Saxons captured four towns in the Thames Valley. Then came the major defeat of the British at Dyrham
in 577 followed by another at
Fethanleag
in 584 and “great slaughter” at Woden’s Barrow (possibly Wanborough) in 592. All this is recorded in the
ASC.
We know that
at the same time the Angles under Creoda were advancing across the British Midlands, carving out what became the kingdom of Mercia. Creoda died in 593 and there must have been many skirmishes, if
not wholesale battles, before then, and certainly under his
successor Pybba. So whereas the 480s and 490s saw the British rise up and force back the invaders, the 580s and 590s
saw the reverse with the British slaughtered under a massive Saxon onslaught.

Under those circumstances the western frontier as shown in Map 8 takes on a new reality, but a century after Badon. This is the time of Artúir of Dyfed, Meurig of Gwent, Cynan of Powys,
and Cynfor Host-Protector of the North. Cynan of Powys spent his time harrying his neighbours rather than fighting the Saxons. That was left to Cyndrwyn, a rival ruler of Pengwern, an outcrop
kingdom of Powys, around Shrewsbury. Thanks to Cyndrwyn and his sons, including the famous Cynddylan, the men of Pengwern fought bravely to protect their lands against the Mercians. Cynfor
Host-Protector doubtless rallied the Men of the North, though nothing is now remembered of his battles. In Gwent, Meurig and his famous father Tewdrig, who came back from retirement to fight one
last battle against the Saxons, are long remembered in song. Meurig’s son Athrwys possibly fought alongside them.

Between them, Meurig, Cyndrwyn and Cynfor could doubtless have held that frontier line and fought at those battles in Nennius’s list. Yet, none is associated with them in legend, unless it
is via Athrwys ap Meurig. We know virtually nothing about him, not even whether he succeeded to the kingdom of Gwent. He signed no charters as king, and the records show that Meurig, who had a long
life, was succeeded by his grandson Morgan. This would, of course, fit in with Nennius’s description of Arthur as a
dux bellorum
, and not necessarily a king. Perhaps Athrwys was killed
in battle, and perhaps he fought alongside Cyndrwyn and Cynfor in holding the western frontier. If he did, those are not the names he is associated with in legend. And though Athrwys could not have
fought at the Badon remembered by Gildas, he could have fought at Caer Faddon.

The western frontier is thus plausible a century after Badon, but not earlier.

Northern Frontier

One ruler dominated the north in the late fifth century. In the territory between the Walls the main force was Dyfnwal Hen,
Pendragon after the death of
Brychan of Brycheiniog, and one of the most powerful warriors of his day. His grandfather was Ceretic of Strathclyde, and his sons became rulers of the territories between the Walls. One of his
daughters married Brychan of Manau, possibly a son of Brychan Brycheiniog. His descendants were notably wealthy and later owned part of the legendary “Thirteen Treasures of Britain”
sought by Merlin, including the halter of Clydno Eityn and the magic sword of Rhydderch Hael. Dyfnwal appears in the Irish stories about Cú Chulainn, in which he is known as Domnal, the
warlike ruler of Scotland.

Dyfnwal’s main opponents, apart from the Picts and the Scots, would have been the British tribes south of Hadrian’s Wall, including the Gododdin and descendants of Coel, the
Coelings. In contrast to Dyfnwal’s descendants, the Coelings of that generation were poor. There was Merchiaun (Mark the Lean), his son Cinmarc the Dismal, and Mark’s cousin Sawyl
(Samuel) the Humble. However, Sawyl’s cousin Einion was the father of Rhun the Wealthy, suggesting at least some change of fortune. How much of that might have been due to another cousin,
Eliffer of the Great Host, is open to speculation.

Eliffer and his sons ruled the eastern Pennines, and thus were on the front line facing the rising menace of the Angles who, under Soemil, had laid claim to Deira, the area between the Humber
and the Tees around the middle of the fifth century. Eliffer’s father, Arthwys, must also have been involved in these battles. There would be few reasons or opportunities for the Coelings to
venture north of the Wall unless threatened by Dyfnwal’s sons. They had enough to cope with facing the Angles and the Irish. The pattern of battles in Map 7 is too haphazard to reflect any
consistent campaign between the Coelings and the Gododdin, and is far more suggestive of battles between the Gododdin and Strathclyde marking Dyfnwal’s territorial gains.

The epicentre of these battles is around the Eildon Hills and the Roman fort of Trimontium. This had ceased to be occupied by the end of the second century, but the Celtic fort at the top of one
of the Eildon Hills showed evidence of reoccupation by the end of the fourth century. In
Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms,
Alistair Moffat has speculated that a Romano-British cavalry unit under
Arthur re-established itself in this area, perhaps first at
Eildon but then further east at what became Roxburgh. This unit was primarily engaged against the advancing Angles.
Moffat does not identify all of the sites from Nennius’s list, suggesting sufficient in the area to presume that all belong there (though surprisingly he concedes that Badon probably was at
Bath). There are certainly enough potential sites here to make this area a distinct possibility, whether it relates to Dyfnwal’s expansionism or a cavalry unit holding back the Angles.

These sites mean that the battles were fought primarily on Gododdin soil, but if at this time the area was under the control of Dyfnwal and his sons, there is no room for anyone called Arthur.
The only like-named individual in the region, the Coeling Arthwys, could not have managed a campaign this far north.

It is possible, though, to map out an alternative northern frontier. In
From Scythia to Camelot,
Linda Malcor and C. Scott Littleton propose a sequence that could have been fought by
Lucius Artorius Castus against the Picts, around the year 185. They suggest that the campaign could have started at the fort of Ribchester (Breguoin), then under Castus’s command, and from
there along the Ribble to its estuary (Tribruit). The pursuit then moved south to a sequence of battles along the Douglas, before the Caledonii headed across the Pennines to York. Castus drove the
Picts north to Binchester (Guinnion) and from there back across Hadrian’s Wall where they met again at Yeavering Bell (River Glein). The Picts were now in full retreat, but Castus engaged
them again in the Forest of Celidon before pursuing them north to the final victory at Dumbarton (Badon).

Malcor and Littleton don’t offer a site for Bassas, but a site near Stirling would certainly fit their scenario. There are two concerns, however. Firstly, would this campaign be remembered
three centuries later, by then somehow attributed to another whose own battles may have echoed those of Castus? And secondly, how does Badon fit into the timetable when it happened in the year of
Gildas’s birth? Badon (as Dumbarton) is the one weak link in an otherwise feasible proposal, and it raises again the possibility that Badon was not part of the same campaign, but the
culmination of a series of battles against the Saxons.

Malcor and Littleton’s proposal might also fit an alternative northern campaign. A campaign against the Angles could have
started at York, and moved south along the
Humber to face them in their heartland near Barton at Glanford Bridge (Glein) and then headed north to Binchester (Guinnion) and up to the Wall at Corbridge (one or more of the Dubglas battles). It
would not need much of a trespass beyond the Wall to engage the Angles again in the Forest of Celidon. This may have marked the end of one campaign and could have been led by Eliffer of the Great
Host from York, perhaps assisted by his father Arthwys. The threat then shifted to the West Coast with the Irish raiders. Battles could have taken place at Ribchester (Bregouin), along the Ribble
Valley (Tribruit) and the River Douglas (thus causing a mental link with the previous campaign). This covers all of the sites except Bassas and Badon. Bassas, which we have suggested means
“shallows”, might relate to any of the shoreline in Morecambe Bay which was once above sea level but was later engulfed. And if Badon was a separate battle, and not part of this
campaign, it need not have been in the north. This second campaign may well have been led by Arthwys in conjunction with Mark of Rheged.

There are other, later, events that may have caused these battles to become embedded in the Arthurian legend. The battle of Arderydd, for instance, which happened eighty years after Badon, in
573, was between Arthwys’s grandsons, Gwenddoleu, Peredur and Gwrgi. The reasons behind this battle are uncertain but it suggests some climactic vendetta between the two sets of families. The
fact that it happened north of Hadrian’s Wall, in the territory of Rhydderch Hael, suggests that Gwenddoleu may have betrayed the Coelings and was now in the pay of the sons of Dyfnwal.
Gwenddoleu was known for his wealth as he also had one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain, a gold and silver chessboard. There is another tradition that states that the battle was between
Gwenddoleu and Rhydderch, and that the sons of Eliffer were not involved. This may make more sense, as it suggests that one of the Coelings, who had become wealthy, saw an opportunity to gain
territory from a young and as yet untried Rhydderch, with fatal consequences. Gwenddoleu was killed and his bard, Myrddin, went insane after the battle and fled into the Forest of Celidon.

Arderydd may have been remembered generations later rather like Camlann, and its closeness to Camboglanna on Hadrian’s
Wall may have compounded the error.
What’s more, Arderydd is situated in the Forest of Celidon and thus may be the same as Nennius’s seventh battle. The connection with Myrddin/Merlin adds further confusion. Add to this
the memory that Dyfnwal was the Pendragon, and the mix could certainly add fuel to a tradition of a northern Arthur.

Gwenddoleu’s cousin was Urien of Rheged who fought against the Angles in Northumbria during the 570s and 580s, with his cousins Gwallawg of Elmet and Morcant of Lothian. This included a
major siege at Lindisfarne where, due to betrayal by Morcant, Urien was murdered. The disaster at Catraeth soon followed, the beginning of the end for northern resistance against the Angles.
Urien’s battles are commemorated in Taliesin’s battle poem
Arise, Reget,
and these may include at least one that coincides with Nennius’s list, the eleventh battle of
Breguoin, “the halls of Brewyn.” Otherwise Urien’s battles do not overlap with Arthur’s and since the end result is Arthur’s victory as opposed to Urien’s
defeat, it suggests that Urien’s campaign is not the source for the battle list. It could still, though, have blurred in the memory, with one sequence of battles ending in a betrayal becoming
confused with another battle campaign which also, if you include Camlann, ends in betrayal. Urien features in the later Arthurian legends, but he stands suffiently bold as a possible Arthur
himself.

Eastern Frontier

In chapter 5 I discussed Gildas’s reference to “the unhappy partition with the barbarians” in
De Excidio,
and suggested that this boundary may have been
delineated by the Roman Dere / Ermine Street, the modern-day Al. If we plot the battle sites against this road there is a surprising match. It would need to include a few dubious sites, such as
those around Stirling, for Tribruit, and that at Stow for Guinnion, but otherwise follows several very feasible locales.

This frontier has the advantage of following Gildas’s partition and of linking together the boundaries of the original Anglo-Saxon settlements in Bernicia, Deira, Lindsey and East Anglia.
Apart from the problem of identifying this boundary around
London, it is otherwise supported by archaeological evidence which shows no extensive Saxon settlement west of that
frontier until the mid sixth century.

The major problem is that this frontier runs the length of Britain and thus crosses several British kingdoms. Unlike the other frontiers, which are relatively self-contained and thus could be
held by one chieftain, perhaps with the help of neighbouring kings, this one would require a significant consortium of kings. Yet this is exactly how Nennius describes it when he says that
“Arthur, with the kings of Britain” fought the enemy. The individual best placed to work along this line would have been Arthwys of the Pennines since his territory, probably around the
southern Pennines, was midway along this route. We have established that the original battles, under Vortimer, took place along the Humber estuary and this would be the obvious place for the
battles to start around Brigg and York, locations also favoured by Geoffrey of Monmouth (
see
Chapter 9). There would have been a series of battles in the north, where the Angles were most
strongly established, before other battles, doubtless encouraged by Aelle, erupted further south. Arthwys would have been reinforced here by the British rulers of Calchvynydd and Rhydychen, the
territories around Oxford and the Chilterns, and it’s possible that other battle sites with names now lost ought to be placed in this vicinity.

Badon need not be part of this frontier. The final battle could have marked a last ditch effort by the Saxons to force the British back. It could suggest a pincer movement by Aelle from the
south plus the Saxons of Lindsey and East Anglia, perhaps under Octa (who Nennius tells us came south) who came down the Ridgeway or the Fosse Way into the British heartland. That defeat proved to
the Saxons that they could not advance so far west and allowed the partition.