The Mammoth Book of King Arthur (33 page)

3. The Dream of Rhonabwy

The Dream of Rhonabwy
is exactly what it says it is – an account of a dream. As such it has a strange, disconnected quality that can have little bearing on true
history, and yet it raises some intriguing points. It probably wasn’t composed until the late thirteenth century, its author looking back to what he clearly regards as a Golden Age that is
threatening to fall apart.

The story starts with Madog, son of Mareddud, who “held Powys from end to end”. This places the story at the start of Madog’s reign, in 1132, for by the 1140s Powys was under
threat from the expansionist regime of Owain Gwynedd. This makes the story contemporary with Geoffrey of Monmouth, and Geoffrey could well have known Madog, who was on friendly terms with the court
of Henry I. It means that even if the story drew upon earlier tradition, it was composed some six centuries after Arthur and thus has no direct historical value. Yet because it describes the battle
of Badon, it cannot be wholly ignored.

At the outset, Madog’s brother Iorweth is jealous of his brother’s power and goes on a rampage through Powys. Madog
sends bands of warriors to track him down,
one of whom is Rhonabwy. He and his companions spend the night in a dirty hovel, and Rhonabwy has a dream of the Arthurian age. The rest of the story describes that dream, a succession of
unconnected visions of Arthur’s warriors questing or in battle, while Arthur and Owain play a game similar to chess.

Rhonabwy finds himself and his companions travelling across the Plain of Argyngroeg, known today as Cyngrog, or Gungrog, just north of modern-day Welshpool, along the floodplain of the River
Severn. One of the tributaries of the Severn here is called the River Camlad.

They are met by a knight who announces himself as Iddog ap Mynio, known as “Cordd Prydain”, or “the Embroiler of Britain”. While serving as messenger for Arthur the
Emperor, he earned the name stiriring up strife between Arthur and his nephew Medrawd, thus causing the battle of Camlann. Although Arthur’s messages to Medrawd were sincere, Iddog distorted
them. He repented of his deeds and did seven years’ penance. While they talk, Rhonabwy and Iddog are joined by Rhufon Befr (the “radiant”). He is also listed amongst
Arthur’s warriors in
Culhwch and Olwen
, and in one of the Welsh Triads as one of the “Three Fair Princes”.

Continuing his dream-journey, Rhonabwy and his companions reach the ford of Rhyd y Groes and find a large encampment. There they see Arthur sitting with Gwarthegyd, son of Caw, and Bishop
Bedwini. Various armies are arriving. Addaon ap Taliesin rides through the ford and splashes Arthur, causing Elffin ap Gwyddno to strike Addaon’s horse with his sheathed sword. Both Elffin
and Addaon appear in the genealogies, a generation apart. Their lives would have overlapped in the early 600s, and neither would be contemporary with Badon.

Then a tall and stately individual, identified as Caradog Vreichfras (“Stout-arm”), Arthur’s chief counsellor and cousin, remarks that it is surprising that so great a host
should be assembled in such a confined space, and that they should be here when they had promised to fight Osla Gyllellvawr (“Big Knife”) at Badon that day. Arthur agrees that they must
move on. They cross the ford, heading towards Cefyn Digoll, whilst Rhonabwy is told that the other troops he sees are the men of
Norway under the command of March, son of
Meirchion, and the men of Denmark under the command of Edeyrn, son of Nudd. Soon after crossing the ford, they arrive below Caer Faddon, the site for the Battle of Badon.

This site cannot be far from Rhyd-y-Groes, perhaps an hour or two’s march. Rhyd-y-groes is still marked on the Ordnance Survey map, though it is now the name of a farm. There was a ford
here, over the Camlad, near Forden, where the river joins the Severn. Between Forden and Garthmyl was a fort called The Gaer, probably the old Roman fort of Levobrinta. A Roman road runs almost
north-south along the Severn at this point, leading to Viriconium/Wroxeter. Arthur and his men almost certainly turned north along this road as it passes directly by Caer Digoll, now the Beacon
Ring hill fort, as the story describes.

The army cannot have travelled much beyond Caer Digoll. Many years ago, Egerton Phillimore deduced that Caer Faddon was the name for the Black Bank spur of Long Mountain, just over two
kilometres southeast of Buttington, near Welshpool. There are several hill forts and ancient settlements in this area, all possible candidates. Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd have suggested the likely
sounding Breidden Hill, northwest of Middletown.

This territory is in Powys, not usually associated with Arthur, but which we have repeatedly encountered in relation to Cadell. Clearly the author of
The Dream of Rhonabwy
is remembering
a famous battle in that area with which he has associated the name Badon, or Caer Faddon. But whether this is Arthur’s Badon is another matter. The area has been the site of several battles;
perhaps the most notable was that between the combined forces of Cadwallon of Gwynedd and Penda of Mercia, against Edwin of Northumbria, at Cefyn Digoll around the year 630. Cadwallon fought a
further dozen battles across the north, leading to the defeat and death of Edwin. His victories were the last glory days of the British, and could easily have been remembered five hundred years
later as an Arthurian conquest. In 893, a combined force of Welsh and Saxons under Alfred the Great defeated the Danes at Buttington. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, in 1039, defeated Leofric of Mercia at
Rhyd-y-Groes. This last battle would be within three generations of the composition of
The
Dream of Rhonabwy
, and would still be remembered. The author may have
chosen that site in order to compare it with an Arthurian golden age, in a location known to have seen many decisive battles.

The
Welsh Annals
refer to a second battle of Badon in 665. The exact date can be confirmed by a reference to the Saxon celebration of Easter, which arose following the Synod of Whitby,
called by Oswy, king of Northumbria in 664. As ever, the entry provides little information, not even who the combatants were. It refers to the death of Morgan, but does not say who he was or
whether he died in the battle. He could be Morgan ap Athrwys, the ruler of Gwent and successor to Athrwys ap Meurig. Morgan was known as a warrior king, as much for his fighting within his borders
as with the Saxons, although 665 is early for his death.

The
ASC
makes no reference to a second Badon any more than it did to the first, so it was probably an all-Welsh affair. The site in
The Dream of Rhonabwy
cannot be ruled out. Bards
writing a century or two later could easily have linked the site of one battle with another, for although it is described as “the second battle of Badon”, we should not automatically
assume the two battles are in the same place. The possibility that Morgan ap Athrwys was killed at this second Badon makes it yet another tantalising link with the Arthur of legend. Moreover, the
possibility that the two Badons were at the same site and in Powys is another, equally tantalising, link to Cadell.

The bizarre dream-like quality of the story is most evident when the battle is described by characters who appear while Arthur and Owain play chess. Eventually a truce is granted for a period of
a month and a fortnight. The description of the battle, such as it is, does not match that recalled by Nennius, in which Arthur’s men seemed to wipe out the enemy over a period of three days.
That suggests these are not the same battles, and that the author of the tale chose it because it was associated with past victories.

When considering the truce, Arthur summons his counsellors, and there follows a list of over forty names. Also present, though not listed as one of the counsellors, is Rhun, son of Maelgwyn.
Rhun was the powerful king of Gwynedd who ruled from around
549 until the 580s, and therefore a contemporary of Arthur of Dyfed (rather than Arthur of Gwent). The counsellors
include Bishop Bedwini and Caradog Vreichfras, both linked with Arthur of Gelliwig in the Welsh Triads, Cador of Cornwall, Gwalchmei, Gwenwynwyn and Peredur Longspear. Cei is mentioned elsewhere,
but not amongst the counsellors, and Bedwyr makes no appearance. Also mentioned are Dyrstan ap Tallwch, one of the earliest appearances of Tristan, although he otherwise plays no part in this
story, and Llacheu, son of Arthur, remembered as Loholt in the romances.

4. Caradog Vreichfras

This is an appropriate moment to give further thought to Arthur’s advisor Caradog Vreichfras, who has a significant role in this story, and appears in other Arthurian
tales.

Caradog is described as Arthur’s most senior counsellor, a position which allows him to speak his mind bluntly. He is portrayed as an acerbic character, not unlike that ascribed to Cei in
the romances. His epithet,
Vreichfras
, means “strong-arm”. Apparently Cardog’s arm was broken in battle but mended more powerful than before. In the later French romances
this became
Briefbras
, derived from
Brise-bras
, for “broken arm”, but thereafter translated as “short arm” or “withered arm”.

Cardog is associated with both Brycheiniog and Ergyng, plus the region known as Llydaw. He is infuriatingly difficult to date, because his name is so common and his ancestry confusing. He is
usually made the son of Llyr Marini, who has no historical basis. The name seems to be a later fabrication to link Caradog with the god Llyr. The same legend makes his mother a fairy.

There are at least four Caradogs who appear in the pedigrees, and to whom the epithet
vreichfras
has become attached.

The latter three seem to belong to the royal family of Gwent, so may all be descended from Eudaf and the first Caradog. We cannot dismiss the possibility that because one
Caradog was known to be a ruler of Ergyng, tradition has linked all the others to that territory. But Caradog was such a popular name that it may well have passed down through a family,
particularly one as noted as Eudaf’s, which claimed descent from the original Ceretic, or Caratacus, ruler of the Catuvellauni at the time of the Roman invasion. Caratacus fled to the Silures
in Gwent to mount a defensive campaign against the Romans, before being exiled to Rome with his brother Arvir-agus, who returned to Britain and settled among the Silures. There is thus a case to be
made that Caradog became a family name of the rulers of the Gwentian Silures throughout the period of Roman occupation.

Of particular interest are (3) and (4), as one is contemporary with Arthur of Badon, and the other was probably alive, as a senior official, during the life of Arthur of Gwent. Most legends
about Vreichfras have become too wrapped up in myth to be of value as history, but there is enough in
Culhwch and Olwen
and
The Dream of Rhonabwy
to suggest that a once great warrior
was now a highly respected counsellor at Arthur’s court.

The idea that Caradog and Arthur became enemies has no basis in these stories, and may have arisen from two factors. Firstly, the idea that Caradog may be the same person as Cerdic of the West
Saxons. This is a very tempting idea and, if we accept the
ASC
’s original dates of Cerdic arriving in 495 and succeeding to the West Saxon kingdom in 501, it would make him a
contemporary of Caradog ap Ynyr. However, we have determined that Cerdic lived at least a generation later. Perhaps Cerdic was related to Caradog, possibly as a nephew. That alone may make it
sufficient for Caradog to be regarded as a traitor to Arthur, but any such arrangement may have been part of various peace or land treaties.
We might even go so far as to
propose that Caradog is just old enough to have been Hengist’s interpreter, but that is pure conjecture.

The other reason is because Caradog has also been called a ruler of Armorica, and may have deserted Arthur to establish a new kingdom over the sea (possibly explaining the
Llyr Marini
patronym, as both names mean “of the sea”). However, as we established earlier, Caradog conquered the territory of Llydaw between Ergyng and Brycheiniog, which is also the Welsh name
for Armorica, and the two have become confused.

This may provide another connection with Cerdic. Cerdic is always called the leader of the Gewisse, whilst Eudaf Hen, son of the first Caradog listed above, was also called a duke, or
dux
, of the Gewisse. Could Caradog Vreichfras have inherited the title of duke of the Gewisse and, if so, what connection does this have to Cerdic?

There may be none. The simple answer may be confusion between the words Gewisse and Guuennessi. The first means “confederates” or “allies”, and is usually taken to mean
an army of mixed Romano-British and Germanic warriors, who were the band of mercenaries with which Cerdic carved out his kingdom. Cerdic’s grandfather (or great-grandfather) was called Gewis,
and his descendants became the Gewisse, or, more accurately, the Gewissingas.
Guuennessi
means “people of Gwent”, of whom Eudaf was the
dux
, or more probably governor.

The confusion arises because Geoffrey of Monmouth called Vortigern a leader of the Gewisse. We know that Vortigern was descended from the men of Gloucester and established a dynasty in Powys,
but was not himself from Gwent. He could, of course, have usurped the title, which would not have been out of character, or Geoffrey could simply have been mistaken.